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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS 



A BOOK OF PRACTICAL ADVICE ON ADVERTISING FOR BANKS, 

TRUST COMPANIES, INVESTMENT BROKERS, REAL 

ESTATE DEALERS, AND ALL INTERESTED 

IN PROMOTING THEIR BUSINESS BY 

JUDICIOUS ADVERTISING 



BY 

T. D. MacGREGOR, Ph. B., 

Of THE BANKERS MAGAZINE 



1908 

THE BANKERS PUBLISHING CO. 

90 William Street, New York 



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Copyright, 1908, 
The Bankers Publishing Co. 



Introduction. 

ADVERTISING, once looked upon by some business men as 
an expense, is now quite generally regarded in its proper 
light— as an investment. 

The primary purpose of most advertising is to increase business. 

Some advertising is done with other objects in view, but in most 
cases now-a-days every dollar spent in advertising is expected to 
come back, sooner or later, bringing many others with it. 

Advertising is by no means a fixed science. There are no set 
rules the observance of which will insure success to the advertiser. 

But experience is a good teacher, and it need not all be your 
own experience. In the past few years there has been a wonderful 
advance in advertising knowledge and progress has been made in 
the facilities for the preparation and distribution of advertising 
matter to such an extent that advertising means much more than it 
did even a decade ago. 

The fundamental principles involved in financial advertising 
do not differ from those of advertising in general. However, there 
are some things in financial publicity that require special emphasis. 
Hence this book. 

All advertising should be confidence inspiring, but, more than 
any other class of advertising, that of financial or investment insti- 
tutions must have this quality. 

When a man turns over his money to the care of another and in 
return gets for the time being nothing more tangible than a promise 
to return it with interest at some future time, he needs the strongest 
kind of assurance concerning the integrity and business ability of 
the men who make such a proposition to him. 

A good deal has been said about the necessity for dignity in 
financial advertising. It is right, there should be dignity, and the 
chief reason is because that helps to inspire confidence. 



At the same time the advertising must not be so dignified that 
it lacks in human interest, persuasiveness and the power of convic- 
tion. In short, the problem is how to combine the right amount of 
dignity with the requisite "pulling power." 

It is to help solve this problem that this book has been written 
and is placed in the hands of those upon whom falls the responsi- 
bility of promoting the business of financial and investment insti- 
tutions by advertising. 

The value of advertising is not to be measured only by the 
direct returns from advertisements. 

Honest, continuous advertising and making good on promises 
helps to create for advertisers good will — an asset of intangible 
but very real value. 

There are many other things that go to create and maintain 
prestige or good will for a business, but the right kind of advertis- 
ing is the principal means to that end. 

While it cannot be measured by the yard stick nor expressed in 
dollars and cents, good will has an acknowledged value. A recent 
court decision placed a valuation of $1,000,000 upon the trademark 
of a certain very large advertiser. A considerable expenditure for 
general advertising, continued over a period of years, gave that 
trademark its great value. 

It will work just the same in your business if you are a per- 
sistent advertiser and everybody connected with your institution 
uses his best efforts to carry out the promises of courteous and con- 
siderate treatment made in the advertising. All employes must 
have a proper conception of the importance of each customer's 
good will and a sincere desire to gain it. 

There is such a thing as the cumulative effect of continuous ad- 
vertising. The first time a person reads your advertisement he 
may not be in a position to act favorably upon the suggestion you 
make. In fact, he may not be ready for months, but if you have 
kept your name before the public and used your advertising space 
to good advantage by filling it with interesting, informing, convinc- 
ing copy, frequently changed, you have held that man's attention 



and when he is prepared to do as you suggest you are very likely to 
get his business. 

There is a secondarjr advertising of much value that comes to the 
regular and steady advertiser. It arises from the daily talk of the 
community when the name of your institution or company has be- 
come a household word through persistent publicity. When you 
have reached a point where the people take up your advertising and 
voluntarily help to make your business better known, you are for- 
tunate indeed. 

It is the hope of the author that in setting down in this book 
some of the results of wide experience and observation in the field 
of financial advertising from the standpoint of advertiser, agent 
and publisher — he has done something which will prove of lasting 
value to others in this field. 

T. D. MacGregor. 
New York, March, 1908. 



Contents. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER I. 
The Technical Foundation 1 

CHAPTER II. 
Advertising Mediums 15 

CHAPTER III. 
Booklets and House Organs 25 

CHAPTER IV. 
Advertising a Commercial Bank 37 

' CHAPTER V. 
Saving? Bank Advertising 51 

CHAPTER VI. 
Trust Company Advertising 69 

CHAPTER VII. 
Investment Advertising 79 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Real Estate Advertising 95 

CHAPTER IX. 
Effective Business Letters 113 



CHAPTER I. 

The Technical Foundation. 

A STUDY of "copy" and the actual preparation of advertising 
matter naturally precedes the consideration of the broader 
subject of methods and the complete campaign. 

So we begin with a few suggestions on how to write an adver- 
tisement. 

No matter how large the space or the circulation you pay for or 
how favorable the rates you secure, you are not getting your 
money's worth if the copy (i. e. the text matter of the advertise- 
ment) is weak or defective in any way. 

Copy must do more than fill space. It must "jduIL," bring re- 
sults. 

Good copy is not mechanical. It cannot be ground out of a 
hopper. If it could, there would be no need to study the problem 
of salesmanship on paper. You could just buy good copy as easily 
as you can printing. 

Financial advertising copy can not be too strong, concise and 
original. It is not enough for the writer to know the inside facts 
about his particular proposition. 

Indeed, strange as it may seem, you may be too close to your 
own business to realize its strongest advertising points. 

That is the trouble with a good many bankers and other busi- 
ness men when it comes to handling their own advertising. 

They do not see themselves and their business -is others see 
them. 

They are so immersed in the inside details of their institution's 
activities that it is hard for them to look at things from the broader 
standpoint of the disinterested outsider. 

It will pay you to cultivate that valuable "outside" attitude, 
the viewpoint of the disinterested man or woman — your prospective 
customer. Don't look at the proposition entirely from your stand- 
point. Put yourself in the other fellow's place. 

Emphasize "you" and "your" in the copy, not "we" and "our." 

Get the "you" habit in your advertising. It is polite, and it is 
good business, too. 

The personal element is one of the most effective factors in 
advertising, but it must be used with good taste. • 



2 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

It is all right to read the advertising matter of others for sug- 
gestions, but do not slavishly adapt ideas and phrases that seem to 
fit your case. It is better to be original. Have initiative. Explore 
your own proposition for new ideas. Then exjjress them brightly 
and with all the literary skill you can command. 

Make your advertising interesting and educating. 

THE ACTUAL PREPARATION. 

As far as the actual preparation of an advertisement is con- 
cerned, no fixed rule can be laid down as to detail of method. 
There are as many different ways of doing it as there are successful 
advertisement writers. 

Probably no two writers go about it in the same way when they 
sit down to prepare an advertisement. But experience has proved 
the wisdom of certain methods and has established some general 
principles. 

Study every phase of your proposition thoroughly. Then set 
down in black and white all the talking points that occur to you. 

Omit no fact or argument that might possibly be used to ad- 
vantage. 

With this list of talking points, you have your material ready. 
The next step is to outline a plan for the particular piece of ad- 
vertising in hand, be it a series of newspaper advertisements, a 
circular or a booklet. 

In a newspaper series the first thing to determine is the size 
of the space to be used. In deciding this point, remember that 
if you have not an appropriation large enough to warrant the con- 
tinuous use of fairly large space, it is better to use a small space 
regularly and frequently than very large space at spasmodic in- 
tervals. 

When it is planned to run a complete series, each individual 
advertisement should, if possible, emphasize a different point, al- 
though it is well sometimes to summarize other points, the theory 
being that there are always some readers who have not seen preced- 
ing advertisements and who may not see later ones. 

In case of a pure type display advertisement, that is, one in 
which no drawing or design cut is used, the next important thing 
is to create a suitable heading for the advertisement. 

There are very few persons who read through the copy of all 
the advertisements, but there are many who see all, or nearly all, 



THE TECHNICAL FOUNDATION. 3 

of the heavy headlines. So the wise thing to do is 'o state your 
case clearly in the headlines. 

"The meat at the top" is the rule for good headlines just as 
much in an advertisement as in a news article. By constant prac- 
tice the advertisement writer can learn to tell his whole story in the 
headlines and thus get a bigger circulation for his announcement, 
the head at the top and the name of the advertiser at the bottom 
making in themselves a complete advertisement for the benefit of 
the nearsighted and cursory readers of the paper. 

Here are some good headlines for advertisements: 

BOND BARGAINS. 

NOW IS TPIE INVESTOR'S OPPORTUNITY. 
REGULAR INCOMES FROM NEW YORK REAL ESTATE. 
WHEN YOU HAVE SAVED $100 GET A CERTIFICATE OF 
DEPOSIT. 

IT IS EASY, SAFE AND PROFITABLE TO BANK BY MAIL. 

Having chosen a suitable head, you have the subject of your 
advertisement. Pick out the talking point or points you wish to 
develop. Then sit down and write as fast as the ideas come to 
you. Never mind the length, drive your pencil as fast as it will 
go. Get your ideas down before they escape you. 

Give real arguments and reasons, not just bald, unsupported 
statements. Be logical and consistent. 

When you have written yourself out on that particular subject, 
rewrite your composition. 

Cut out all unnecessary words. Condense. Boil it down, but 
not too much. 

Rewrite your advertisement in the shortest, simplest, strongest 
words that come to you. If you have difficulty in choosing words 
have a synonym book at your elbow and use it. 

It is better to use short, easy-reading paragraphs — like these. 

There are several reasons why this wholesale pruning process 
is a good thing. It saves valuable space, makes easy reading and 
permits more effective display. 

ABOUT ILLUSTRATIONS. 

The use of a good illustration may add 50 per cent, to the 
"pulling" power of an advertisement. 

In the first place, a good, strong illustration serves as an eye- 
catcher. Then it may present an argument in itself. It can be 



4 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

made so striking that it will hammer in a point indelibly and prove 
of more value than the rest of the advertisement. 

For example, a real estate company could embellish its adver- 
tisement of some suburban residence property with such an at- 
tractive view of one of the homes that descriptive words or per- 
suasive argument would be almost unnecessary. 

A savings bank, by using a cut to show a page of a pass book, 
could illustrate graphically how savings grow. 

A good illustration tells its story at a glance, 1 a story intelligible 
to young and old alike, to the educated and the illiterate. It can 
touch the feelings and lead to favorable action in the direction 
suggested — often more quickly than an appeal to reason, because 
most persons, men as well as women, act more upon impulse than 
they do as the result of cold logic. 

There must always be a close connection between the idea 
brought out by the illustration and the thought expressed in the 
copy of the advertisement. Unless this rule is observed, there will 
be waste motion, so to speak, in the advertising. The picture of a 
pretty girl or of a beautiful piece of scenery probably will attract 
passing attention, but unless the illustration is tied up in some 
way with the copy, it will not help the advertisement. On the con- 
trary, it is more likely to injure it by distracting attention from the 
main purpose of the announcement. 

It is not necessary for the advertisement writer to be an artist, 
too, but he should have ideas and be able to sketch them up roughly 
so that an artist can readily see the point and carry it out effect- 
ively. 

The regular use of a trademark cut in advertising is good be- 
cause, besides serving to draw attention to the notice, it identifies 
the advertisement so that even if not always read, an unconscious 
influence is exerted upon the mind of the reading public. It helps 
build up a prestige, a good will, for the advertiser which may be- 
come one of his most valuable assets. 

If you adopt and use continuously a certain distinctive style of 
type "set up" in your advertisements you will get some valuable 
secondary or indirect advertising. By creating a style of your own 
you get more than you pay for because in this way you get the full 
benefit of the cumulative effect of all your preceding publicity. 

The emblems of some banks are so well known that if they 
appeared in the newspapers or the street cars without a word of 



THE TECHNICAL FOUNDATION. 5 

type most of those who saw them would know what they stood for. 
That illustrates the cumulative effect of advertising. 

However, we are not advocating the wisdom of any such course. 
It should be remembered that there is a new generation constantly 
growing up that must be educated in the way it should go and the 
best thing for the advertiser to do it is to keep hammering into the 
minds of the people, not only his name and emblem, but also inter- 
esting facts about his institution and the service it offers the public. 

In short, our advice is — get a good emblem to repre- 
sent you, make it known by advertising and then back up your ad- 
vertising by making good on your promises and by courteous and 
prompt attention to the wants of your customers. 

HARMONY IN STYLE. 

Do not use several different styles of type in one advertisement, 
and always remember that there is great strength in simplicity. 

Do not overlook the value of display obtained by the liberal 
use of white space. 

It is always well in sending copy to the printer to make a 
"layout" similar to that shown on page 7. It helps the printer 
to carry out accurately the idea you have in your mind and insures 
a better looking advertisement. That is, in case you have studied 
the matter and know something about what you do want. Other- 
wise it is better to leave it to the judgment of the printer. 

Always ask to see proof. Otherwise you may be made to say 
some embarrassing things in your advertisements, and mistakes will 
occur even then, if you are not very careful in reading proof. 

PROOFREADER'S MARKS. 

For your convenience in learning to read proof, the usual proof- 
reading symbols and their meaning are reproduced here. 

<j( Delete; take out or expunge. 

/\ Left out; insert. 

Q Colon. 

$fc A space, or more space, between lines or letters. 



6 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

^„y Less space between words or letters. 
'/ Hyphen. . 

C Bring a word or words to the beginning of a line; also, make a new 
paragraph 

/\ Directs attention to a broken or imperfect type. 

Q Period. 

\J Even spacing. 

□ Indent. 

G) Turn a reversed letter. 

L Push down space. 

^"^ No space between words or letters; close up. 

% j Comma. 

\/ Apostrophe. 

/JJ One-em dash. 

/-£/ Two-em dash. 
v/*/ Quotation. 

/fy Straighten a crooked line or lines. 

. j , Directs attention to a quadrat or space which improperly appears. 

| | Sink or depress a letter, word, or character raised above the proper 

level. 

| "1 Carry a word farther to the left or to the right. 

Elevate a letter, word or character, that is sunk below the proper 
n level. 

| Shows that a portion of a paragraph projects laterally beyond 
the rest. 

C| Make a new paragraph. 



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8 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

Put in italic; also change according to the mark in the margin, as 
from Italic to Roman or from Roman to Italic. 

Put in small capitals. 

£EE Put in amuH capitals. 

.... Restore or retain words being crossed out, stet being usually writ- 
ten in the margin, meaning "Let it stand." 

wf. Wrong font, used when a character is of wrong size or style. 

tr. Transpose. 

I.e. Lower case; that is, put in small or common letters a word that 
has been printed in capitals or small capitals. 

s.caps Put in small capitals. 

qy.or? Query; is this right? 

out sc Words are omitted, or are wanting, see copy. 

These are a few technical points that it would be well for you 
to master if you are planning to conduct your own advertising, and 
the knowledge will not come amiss if you delegate the actual de- 
tails of preparation to somebody else. You are the one that has 
to pay the bills and cannot know too much about what you are pay- 
ing for in promoting your business. 

GETTING EXPERT HELP. 

A good advertising agent or an expert advertising writer is 
worth more than he costs you, because he helps you to save and to 
make more money than you would without him. 

To-day there are specialists in the preparation and handling 
of advertising just as there are in every other line. It pays to 
consult and to employ them even if your advertising appropriation 
is a small one. If your business is large enough to warrant it, you 
need an advertising expert of your own. But even in that case, 
the advertising preparation bureau and the agency that places ad- 
vertising will be of the greatest service to you. 

A knowledge of the results of the experience of many other 
financial advertisers on such important matters as copy, mediums 
and methods is placed at your instant command when you employ 
expert service of this kind. 



THE TECHNICAL FOUNDATION. 9 

Banks and investment houses that advertise nationally place 
their business through advertising agents because they are thus 
relieved of all detail work in connection with their publicity and 
pay nothing for the service, as the agent is reimbursed for his 
work by the commissions he receives from the publishers of the 
magazines and other mediums used. 

For the convenience of readers and students not familiar with 
printing, publishing and advertising terminology, we print the fol- 
lowing: 

GLOSSARY OF TERMS COMMONLY USED IN 
ADVERTISING. 

Advertising Agent. — One who handles advertising for another. Some 
agents are just "space brokers," getting their pay entirely in commis- 
sions from publications and those controlling advertising privileges. 
Others have copy and art departments and give their clients service in 
the preparation of advertising matter as well as in the mechanical de- 
tails of an advertising campaign. 

Agate Line. — A line of agate type. It is used as a measure of advertising 
space, fourteen agate lines being allowed to an inch, single column. 

Antique Finish.— -Term used when paper is not calendered. 

Appropriation. — An amount of money set aside for advertising expense. 

Boldface or Blackface Type. — A type having a conspicuous or heavy face, 
like this— Boldface. 

Border. — A rule or design used around an advertisement or plate. 

Calendered Paper. — Paper that has been given a glazed, glossy or wavy 
appearance by an ironing machine consisting of two or more heated 
cylinders. 

Campaign. — A complete plan of advertising. Also the carrying out of the 
plan in all its details. 

Caps. — Capital letters. 

Chase. — A rectangular iron frame in which pages or columns of type are 
imposed. 

Checking Up. — Verifying insertions of advertisements before paying bills 
for the advertising. 

Circulation. — The circulation of a publication means the total number of 
copies printed «nd distributed to readers. The circulation of bill- 
boards, street car advertising, etc., means the number of people who 
see the advertising. 

Closing Date. — The date upon which a periodical locks up its forms prep- 
aratory to going to press. Every publication has a fixed time every 
month, week or day after which it is impossible to accept copy of ad- 
vertisements for that issue. 



10 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

Color Work. — Copy printed in more than one color, usually clone on a 
color press, and with several impressions. 

Composition. — The setting up of type and arranging it for printing. 

Compositor. — A typesetter. 

Copy. — Manuscript (written or typewritten) or printed matter to be set 
up in type. Or, a photograph, drawing or other article of which a cut 
is to be made. 

Cropping. — Cutting the edges of a negative or photograph so that a plate 
can be made with the desired proportionate reduction from the orig- 
inal copy, 

Cut. — An engraved block or plate. Also the impression from such a plate. 

Design. — The name given to the drawing or "art work" portion of an illus- 
trated advertisement, or of the cover of a booklet. 

Display. — The method used to make an advertisement stand out conspicu- 
ously. It can be done by large type, striking design, liberal use of 
white space or unusual arrangement. 

Display Type. — Large type used for heads or lines in advertisements or 
other parts to be especially emphasized. 

Dummy. — A working plan of a book, circular, etc., used to convey an idea 
of the size, form, stock and other particulars. It is used as a basis for 
cost estimates and to show how the completed work will look. 

Electro, Electrotyping. — A duplicated copy of an engraving or type form, 
made by suspending a wax copy in a solution of copper sulphate to- 
gether with a plate of copper. An electric current deposits the copper 
on the impression, which is backed with a stiff metal, trimmed and 
blocked ready for the press; a means of duplicating plates and type 
matter by a combined chemical and electrical process. Electros are 
more durable than some other printing plates. 

E. O. D. — Every other day, meaning that an advertisement is to run alter- 
nate days in a daily paper. 

E. O. W. — A mark meaning that an advertisement is to run every other 
week in a weekly publication. 

Em. — The portion of a line formerly occupied by the letter m, then a square 
type, used as a unit by which to measure the amount of printed matter 
on a page; the square of the body of a type. 

Enameled Paper. — This is produced by a coating of glue and China clay, 
which fills up the pores of the paper. 

Etching. — Producing designs or figures on a metal plate by means of lines 
eaten in or corroded by means of a strong acid. 

Face. — The style or cut of a type or font of type. The printing surface. 



THE TECHNICAL FOUNDATION. 11 

Follow Up. — Personal and form letters, circulars, mailing cards, personal 
visits, and, in short, the whole system by which inquiries are turned 
into orders, inquirers into customers. A very important part of modern 
advertising. 

Fokt. — A complete assortment of printing type of one size, including a 
due proportion of all the letters in the alphabet, large and small, 
points, accents, and whatever else is necessary for printing with that 
variety of types. 

Form. — The type or other matter from which an impression is to be taken, 
arranged and secured in a chase, ready for printing. 

Forms Close. — See "Closing Date." 

Form Letter. — A letter prepared in advance and kept in stock to be sent 
to inquirers or as part of a follow-up system. They are usually type- 
written or printed in imitation of typewritten letters, space being left 
at the top to fill in the date and the address with the same color of ink 
as the body of the letter. 

Halftone. — A copper plate upon which is reproduced any photograph, 
wash drawing, or steel engraving, which is to be printed on paper. It 
is made by obtaining, through a ruled glass screen, a negative which is 
then printed on the plate and etched to a suitable depth for printing. 
Halftones can be reproduced from wash or color drawings, oil paint- 
ings, and photographs. Solio or other brown photographs will give the 
best result. The finer the screen of a halftone, the cleaner the detail. 
Sixty-four screen is the proper mesh for newspaper printing. About 
133 screen will give the best result on calendered paper. One hundred 
and fifty can be used on coated paper. (See Screen.) 

Holdover. — Matter and copy held out of one issue of a publication for use 
in a later one. 

Impression. — The imprint made by the pressure of the type or plate on the 
paper. 

Inquiry. — A request for further information concerning something adver- 
tised.. It is the task of the advertiser to turn inquiries into orders or 
business. 

Insertions. — Means the number of times an advertisement appears in a 
publication. For example, "three insertions a week" means that the 
advertisement appears three times during the week. 

Key. — A means of telling how an advertisement or a medium pays the ad- 
vertiser. Usually it is something in the address which differs in the 
various mediums used. For example: "Dept. A;" "Dept. B;" "Desk 
5;" "Suite 105;" or "Send for booklet A," etc. A careful record of 
inquiries and sales or customers secured from each advertisement is 
kept by a great many advertisers. It is a wise thing to do, as it en- 
ables the advertiser to spend his advertising appropriation intelligently. 

Layout. — An accurately drawn outline marked so that the printer may 
know exactly how to set up an advertisement, circular, etc. On it are 
indicated the exact space, the size of type, position of cuts and other 
information to enable the printer to carry out the ideas of the ad- 
vertiser. (See illustration in this chapter.) 



12 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

L. C. — Lower case, i. e., small letters. 

Lead. — A thin strip of type metal used to separate lines of type in print- 
ing. 

Leaded. — Matter with proper leads dividing it for printing. Double 
leaded matter is more likely to attract attention than single leaded. 

Line Cut. — An engraving plate in which the effects are produced by lines 
of different width and closeness, cut upon copper, zinc or similar ma- 
terial. 

Linotype. — A type setting machine, operated as a typewriter, which casts 
the words in lines from the molten type-metal. 

Make Ready. — After the type matter and cuts are locked into the form, 
printing cannot be started until the form is "made ready" for the 
press. That is, if a cut is too high it must be lowered. If it is too 
low it must be raised. If a "quad" or a "slug" sticks up it must be 
hammered down. Everything to be printed must be "type-high," so 
that the form will print evenly. 

Mat, Matrix. — See "Stereotype Plate." 

Matter. — Written manuscript or anything to be set in type; copy; also 
type set up and ready to be used, or which has been used in printing. 

Medium. — Any vehicle of advertising, as a magazine, newspaper, street car, 
billboard, calendar, novelty, etc. 

Monotype. — A typesetting machine which sets each individual type sepa- 
rately and not by lines as on a linotype. 

Mortise. — A portion of an engraved plate cut out so that type matter or 
another plate may be inserted. 

Pica. — See "Point." 

Plate. — A piece of metal upon which anything is engraved for the pur- 
poses of printing. Also the impression from it. 

Point, the Point System. — The size of type is now measured by the point 
system based on the pica body, which is divided into twelfths, which 
are termed points. Type founders now cast type of a uniform size and 
height. Seventy-two points or six picas make one inch. This matter is 
set in eight point. 

Preferred Position. — A location of an advertisement in a magazine or 
newspaper which gives it the advantage in getting the attention of 
readers. Usually a higher rate is charged for such position. 

Press. — A machine which makes impressions of type matter and plates 
upon a printing surface. The smallest presses are operated by hand. 
A cylinder press is one in which the impression is produced by a re- 
volving cylinder under which the form passes. Sometimes the stereotype 
plates are curved around a cylinder, instead of resting on a flat bed. 
All fast printing is done on cylinder presses. 



THE TECHNICAL FOUNDATION. 13 

Proof. — A trial impression from type or plate taken for correction or ex- 
amination. 

Proof-Reader. — One who reads proof and makes corrections thereon. 

Pull. — A term used in speaking- of the results obtained from an advertise- 
ment, as "The ad. pulled well." 

Pure Reading Matter.- — News or general articles in a newspaper or mag- 
azine. Position for an advertisement next to pure reading matter is 
desirable because in that location the announcement is more likely to 
be seen and read. 

Quoin. — A metal wedge used to lock up a form within a chase. 

Rate Card. — A printed list of prices for advertising space, with informa- 
tion as to discounts, special positions, etc. 

Reading Notice. — An advertisement set so that it looks like a news or gen- 
eral article. The charge for such notices is higher than for the same 
space in display type. 

Ream. — There are 500 sheets of paper to a ream, but the size of the sheet 
and the weight of a ream differ according to the kind of paper. 

Register. — The correspondence or adjustment of the several impressions in 
a design which is printed in parts, especially in multi-color work. 

Revise.— To compare (a proof) with a previous proof of the same matter, 
and mark again such errors as have not been corrected in the type. 

Rule. — A thin plate of metal (usually brass) of the same height as the 
type, used for printing lines, as between columns, for borders, or in 
tabular work. 

Screen. — In making halftones a ruled glass screen is interposed between 
the copy and the camera, producing a negative of dots made by the 
crossed lines, which gives the desired tone and shading to the illustra- 
tion. For use in newspapers a coarse screen (about 60-line) is best. 
For a better grade of paper, as in a magazine, 110 or 120-line screen 
should be used. On highly enameled paper a still finer screen is de- 
sirable. (See Halftone.) 

Selling Force. — The strength of copy — its ability to induce action in the 
desired direction on the part of readers. 

Set Up. — To compose; to arrange type in words, lines, etc. 

Sizing. — A vegetable, resinous substance mixed in with the wood pulp from 
which paper is made to render the paper suitable to take ink properly. 

Stereotype Plate. — Made by setting movable type as for ordinary print- 
ing; from these a cast is taken in paper pulp, or the like, and upon 
this cast melted type metal is poured, which, when hardened, makes a 

solid page or column, from which the impression is taken as from type. 
The mold is made by beating or pressing paper mache into a form and 

drying it quickly. The paper form is called a mat. 



14 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

Stick. — An instrument of metal which the typesetter holds in his left hand 
in which to arrange the type in words and lines. It has one open side 
and one adjustable end. The term is sometimes used as a measure of 
space. A "stick" of matter means about as much in length as the av- 
erage newspaper column is wide. 

Stoxe. — A stand or table with a smooth, flat top of stone, commonly mar- 
ble, on which to arrange the pages of a book, newspaper, etc., before 
printing. 

Talking Poixts. — Features of a proposition that make good arguments to 
use in copy advertising it. 

T. F. — Till forbid, meaning run the advertisement until a cancellation order 
is received. 

Typography. — Means the general makeup and appearance of a piece of ad- 
vertising looked at from a printing standpoint. 

Zinc Plate. — Made from a negative taken from pen and ink drawing, type 
matter, etc., by a direct process. The negative is reproduced on a zinc 
plate and etched to a proper printing depth. 



CHAPTER II. 

Advertising Mediums. 

THERE are points in favor of most advertising mediums, but 
some are of a great deal more value than others. It is for 
each advertiser to decide for himself what medium or 
mediums are best suited for his proposition. The experience of 
other advertisers in similar lines ought to be a good guide. 

There is a great deal to be said for the daily newspaper as an 
advertising medium. It goes everywhere. Everybody reads it. 
Every day it comes entirely fresh and new. The advertiser in it 
makes his message fresh and new daily, too. The newspaper, it 
is true, is ephemeral, short lived, as far as a single edition is con- 
cerned, but it makes up in the frequency of its appearance what it 
lacks in the permanency of the individual copy. Considerably 
more than half of an advertising appropriation for any financial 
institution or investment house can be safely expended in the news- 
papers. 

As to the relative value of the morning or afternoon paper, that 
again depends upon your proposition. If you are advertising an 
investment involving quite a large amount, or if you are calling 
attention to the facilities of your bank or trust company in the 
handling of commercial accounts or the administration of estates, 
probably the morning paper would be the best, because it is read 
largely by the business man on the way to work and at the office. 

The evening paper goes into the homes and is read by the 
women as well as the men. Conditions differ in different cities, 
but this is the general rule. The big department stores, than 
which there are no shrewder advertisers, quite generally favor the 
evening papers. 

APPEALING TO WOMEN. 

Therefore, if you are advertising the advantages of thrift and a 
savings account, or if you are exploiting the merits of a certain 
residence property for the home-seeker, 3*011 will doubtless get the 
best results from the evening newspapers. 

Women do the greater part of the buying in this country, and 
nine times out of ten. they have the deciding vote in the choice of 
a home site and are the power behind the throne when it comes to 



lfi PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

domestic economy. So if you are wise j^ou will always bear the 
women in mind not only in preparing your copy,, but also in choos- 
ing your medium. 

Of course, circulation is the touchstone by which all mediums 
must be tested. In every city there is one paper that unquestion- 
ably leads every other one in circulation. Usually it is the one 
that carries the greatest amount of classified or "want ads." 

But there is a "quality" as well as a "quantity" circulation which 
must be considered. For some kinds of advertising 5,000 of a high 
class circulation is worth 20,000 of a poorer class. For example, 
there is no doubt at all that a man who had a $50,000 house to sell 
would get better results from advertising in a medium which ap- 
pealed exclusively to men of wealth than he would if he placed 
his announcement in a cheap publication of large, but low class 
circulation. 

There is an eternal fitness in things in advertising as well as 
elsewhere, and there is always room and need for the exercise of 
sound judgment. A whiskey ad in a church paper or a Scriptural 
concordance advertisement in a sporting publication, are no more 
out of place than the kind of announcement just referred to when 
published in a medium, the readers of which could not possibly, by 
any stretch of imagination, be interested in the proposition. 

"QUANTITY" AND "QUALITY" CIRCULATION. 

It should be remembered, however, that when the circulation of 
a publication becomes very large it must of necessity reach far 
beyond the confines of any one class in the community, so that a 
very large circulation can always be depended upon to bring good 
results from the right kind of advertising of almost anything. 

The Sunday newspaper as an advertising medium combines to a 
certain extent the advantages of both the morning and evening 
week-day papers. It is read in the home. There is no question 
about that. 

It is read by both the men and the women, but unfortunately 
the class of financial advertising admitted to the columns of the 
Sunday newspaper has not always been in the highest degree 
trustworthy. It has harbored too many fake and fraudulent 
schemes of one kind and another. 

"Evil communications corrupt good manners." As a consequence 
some of the more conservative of financial advertisers prefer to 
eschew the company of the "get-rich-quick" gentry and remain out 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS. 17 

of the Sunday papers entirely. It can be said, however, that in 
most cases the advertising on the financial and stock market pages 
has been kept of a strictly high grade and dependable character. 

The general magazines are splendid mediums for the advertis- 
ing of "Banking By Mail" institutions and high grade investment 
propositions — bonds, stock or real estate. 

ABOUT MAGAZINES. 

These magazines have very large circulations, some of them in 
excess of half a million monthly. The class of readers is good, 
too, although the "quality" of the circulation differs according to 
the character and jDrice of the publication. 

A few years ago the best magazines began a "house- cleaning" 
of their advertising pages, as a result of which nothing but reput- 
able and entirely trustworthy financial and investment advertise- 
ments are admitted. This insures good company to all advertisers 
and adds a great deal to the value of the advertisement, because it 
is quite generally known that the mere fact that an advertisement 
appears in such magazines is prima facie evidence that it is worthy 
of confidence. In a measure the publisher becomes sponsor for his 
advertisers. 

One of the strongest advocates of the magazine as an advertis- 
ing medium is Mr. Robert Frothingham, Advertising Manager of 
"Everybody's Magazine." In response to the author's request he 
gives the following points : 

MR. FROTHINGHAM'S IDEAS. 

The literary quality of the standard magazines is steadily im- 
proving. Lower prices make it easy for people to read several 
magazines regularly where formerly they read only one. As a 
result, the circulation of magazines has increased enormously in 
the past few years. 

The large volume of advertising carried by the magazines and 
the extensive space used by the big national advertisers is the best 
kind of proof of the value of magazine publicity. 

The best magazines every year decline hundreds of thousands 
of dollars' worth of advertising business because it is not up to 
their standard. The magazines are independent, progressive, and 
have a high moral and intellectual tone, which makes them of 
permanent interest in thousands of the best homes in the land — 
those with purchasing and investing power. 



18 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

The magazine reaches the business man in his leisure hours. It 
appeals with special force to the women in the home and they 
are the great buyers. 

The magazine is a national medium. So that the wide distri- 
bution of its circulation and its permanency — its life is from one 
month to several years — gives it immense advantages over other 
forms of advertising. 

In an article in "Profitable Advertising/' Mr. Frothingham 
said: 

It is generally conceded today that no class of publications so directly 
reaches the homes of influence and purchasing power as the magazines. 
Originally designed principally for purposes of entertainment, they have in 
these latter days verily become the molders of public, opinion. They go 
into the home by invitation and possess remarkable length of life. They 
are of interest not only to every adult member of the family, all of whom 
are naturally concerned in the beautifying and improving of the home, but 
they become, as it were, familiar landmarks to the children who grow up in 
the appreciation of good magazine literature. 

Mr. Herbert S. Houston, one of the publishers of the "World's 
Work" magazine, New York, is a strong advocate of forceful and 
informative financial advertising, and is naturally very strongly in 
favor of magazine advertising for investment houses. Talking to 
bankers through "The Bankers Magazine," he said: 

The great buying unit of the modern world is the home. It is true, 
whether you have bonds to sell or books. As investment bankers you would 
rather reach the home builder, the conservative, substantial citizen, than 
the man who supports the pool room and the bucket shop. The latter 
wants Tonopah and Cobalt, not the sound investment security. The man 
who wants the safe bond as a part of his estate with a fixed value is the 
man of the home. 

That man, and there are over five millions of him, working, earning, 
saving, you will never be able to reach effectively until you reach him 
through the magazine. And, of course, it is an economic necessity that you 
do reach him. Otherwise, how can you find a market for these multiplying 
new securities, bonds piled on bonds, short-time notes and all the rest? 
You must have that millenium of which you dream and talk — a broad mar- 
ket. And that broad market doesn't rend the financial page of the daily 
paper; instead, it gets light and leading from the magazine. You are not 
asked to offer your bonds in competition with the shrieking speculator who 
cries his fifty per cent. You will have to look to the daily paper for him, 
for, as far as the magazines are Concerned, lie is already cast into dark- 
ness. 

REAL ADVERTISING. 

And because you will not have this competition to face when you come 
to the magazine, you will come at last to do real advertising. For, really, 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS. 19 

many bankers' cards have been the most elementary types of advertising. 
You have said it was not dignified to print an advertisement that really 
told something. And when an oil gusher was spouting in the next column, 
it wasn't dignified — you maintained a discreet silence, quietly handing the 
reader a card bearing your address. And any respecting business man 
would have done the same. But who among you would say for a moment 
that the advertising in the magazines of Spencer Trask & Company, N. W. 
Halsey & Company. Fisk & Robinson and others is lacking in dignity, be- 
cause it is informing, direct, forceful, actually telling the things about an 
investment that an investor wants to know? 

There is a class of publications known as trade papers or class 
magazines. These publications are especially good to use in ap- 
pealing to a particular class. For instance, the bank or investment 
bouse that wishes to put its facilities at the command of banks 
throughout the country will naturally advertise in barking and 
financial publications. 

STREET CARS. 

As to street car advertising there is no better authority than 
.Mr. Thomas Balmer, Advertising Director of the Street Railways 
Advertising Company, which controls the greater juart of the street 
car advertising in the United States, Canada and Mexico. He is 
very much interested in bringing about better advertising among 
banks. He w r rote to the author in response to a request for a state- 
ment of the arguments in favor of street car advertising. We re- 
produce this letter in full for three reasons: Mr. Balmer is one of 
the "top notch" advertising men in the country; his ideas will be 
of interest and value to the readers of this book, and we agree with 
his arguments in favor of the street cars as part of the advertising 
campaigns of banks and investment houses. 

Flat Iron Blclg., New York, January 17, 1908. 
Editor Banking Publicity Department, "Bankers Magazine," New York. 

Dear Sir: — 

On page 925 of the December, 190?, issue of "The Bankers Magazine," 
the booklet of the Central Savings Bank, Detroit, Mich., entitled "The 
Secret of Saving Money," received criticism at your hands. In connection 
with that criticism you say "The object of this booklet is not only to create 
a desire to save but to lead people who have that desire to consider the 
advantages of this particular bank as a depository for their funds," and 
then you go on and say, as if this question was wholly an advertising ques- 
tion, that the order in advertising is; first, to attract attention; second, 
to hold interest; third, to convince, and fourth, to get readers to act 
promptlv and favorably. 

It is astonishing how nearly you come to enunciating a formula that 
has been put forth as the one most applicable to streel car advertising 



20 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

"The best advertising medium is the one that reaches most often, at least 
cost, the most people who can buy your goods." 

Let us see how this agrees with your formula "Attract attention." 
Of course you agree that to attract the attention of people who could 
not buy your goods would not be profitable advertising. Everybody ought 
to have a banking account or a savings bank account, therefore every fam- 
ily should be taught through advertising the benefits of having such an 
account. Now by what means can you reach every family in a town as 
efficiently as you can through street cars? One member — more than one 
member — of every family in any city rides once a day, on the average, in 
the street cars of that city. I do not mean to say that that averages the 
number of people. I really mean that one person in even' family in almost 
every large city has to and does use the street cars every day. Therefore, 
in a month one person or more for every family knows what is advertised 
in the cars. I say "knows" because there are no more universally known 
advertisements than those appearing in the cars. T have all the evidence 
to sustain this statement, but I won't give it here, so that where, then, can 
you attract as much attention from all people by any advertising as you 
can in the street cars? I don't know; do you? 

HOLDING INTEREST. 

"Holds interest": That is a very vital point. The procrastination that 
influences the lives of so many people will often prevent them from taking 
action on an idea or thought or intention they have in their minds. You 
say to them in a newspaper advertisement or a magazine advertisement 
appearing once a month "Savings banks accounts are good things. You 
ought to have one." They say, "I agree with you." They dismiss the sub- 
ject; you go your way; the magazine goes its way, isn't seen again for a 
month, — the newspaper may be seen again, but the street car must be seen 
again, and if the advertising is properly done, probably the next card they 
see is another reason why they should keep a savings bank account, so that 
their attention is held until at last they are convinced that no one can 
afford to spend the time and space and money to do the convincing that 
you can get out of street car advertising because almost any other form 
of persistent repetitive publicity on any big scale would render almost any 
advertising investment for such a purpose impossible because of its cost. 

I do not deal with the third question except incidentally. "Copy" must 
be convincing. The old street car form used to be run a card, change it 
at the end of a month (perhaps — most often not). The present form is, 
in towns of any ordinary size, 100,000 and over, to run from four to six 
different texts simultaneously scattered through all the cars equally, and 
change these texts every month. If you will just stop to think, do you 
realize what an immense opportunity this gives you to create a desire to 
save and when that desire becomes gratifiable to go to your particular bank 
to deposit the funds? You can tell in these texts all the different reasons 
why people should save money and you can deal in some of the texts with 
all the different reasons why people should put their money in your bank. 

Fourthly: "Get readers to act promptly and favorably." That's the 
gist of the whole matter. To create business for somebody else would not 
be profitable to you, although there is always somebody else "scabbing" 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS. 21 

off good advertising. The advertising of any product whatever has an 
overflow value to all manufacturers of similar products. That can not be 
helped, but it is not a reason for not advertising, because I never knew 
anyone yet advertising who did not receive the major part of the value 
from the advertising, but such a small part went astray that it did not and 
never could have interfered with his success. 

GETTING FAVORABLE ACTION. 

Now then, "Get readers to act favorably": It is sometimes enough to 
be the only advertiser who is telling the story at all. Businesses, like 
persons, have individualities. They must be brought out. Comparatively 
few people are qualified to write advertising about their own business. 
They no more are able to describe their own business accurately than 
they are able to describe themselves accurately. It requires an outside man 
who looks on to be able to see and tell the truth, and then the hand that 
knows how to wield the facile pen — that has language running in ink marks 
from its tips — is able to do far better for you in telling the story to con- 
vince people so that they will act promptly. 

Now let us, if you will, examine the cost. A 21-line advertisement 
maintained every day in a newspaper to reach any given number of readers 
is all you can get to offset in cost the space on a street car card, 11x21 
inches, to reach the same number of readers. Another thing, it costs less 
than one-half cent per annum to reach every individual in a community 
by the maintenance of the street car card in every car in the city for twelve 
months. Put it another way; you reach every family in the community for 
about two and one-half cents per annum by keeping one card in all the 
cars in that town constantly for twelve months. It ought to be sure that 
every family of a town ought to be able to do enough banking or savings 
bank business to warrant any bank to spend that amount of money to 
reach each family in the community for twelve months by constant ad- 
vertising. 

We have ample testimony given by the banks themselves in support 
of our contention that street car advertising properly done is a profitable 
investment. I would like to tell the storv of the respected president of a 
three-quarter of a million dollar trust company who told me when I had 
almost secured his order, in discussing the question of copy, that he would 
write his own copy. I told him that if he insisted on that I would have to 
accept his order for street car advertising subject to my approval of his 
copy. He said, "Why?" "Because," I said, "you would accept my account 
with you subject to your approval of the terms upon which I want to do 
business with you, and I would have to do the same, because I don't know 
a thing about banking and would have to recognize you as an authority, 
and you don't know a thing about advertising and you have to recognize 
me as an authority." 

At the Bankers' Convention held in Cleveland some three years ago at 
which the subject of bank advertising was discussed, T was accorded the 
honor of being one of the speakers to address the Convention. I cited 
there the story of the- Commercial & Farmers' National Bank, of Balti- 
more, which is best told in the words of the President of the institution, 
Mr. W. A. Mason: 



23 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

A CONCRETE CASE. 

"The persistent advertising which has been conducted by this bank 
was something of an innovation to Baltimore, but conducted as it was on 
a clean-cut basis, attended with prudence and conservatism, it was destined 
to win, did win, and results speak for themselves. 

"The advertising in the street cars has been only a part of our general 
publicity plan and it is very difficult, as you know, to trace direct results 
from any particular source of advertising: however, I can say that in our 
ease advertising has been the want which brought most adverse, disgruntled 
public opinion around to a pleasing degree of confidence, that has been 
responsible for an increase in deposits of fully $3,000,000 in fifteen months. 
Of course, advertising alone was not responsible for such gratifying re- 
sults, but it paved the way and made such results possible as nothing else- 
could have done. 

"We think very well of the cars as a medium through which to reach 
the people, particularly the wage-earners and patrons of more moderate 
means. I am satisfied that the advertising we have done in the street cars 
of Baltimore has added, I will say, at least 900 new accounts, that will 
perhaps aggregate .$800,000, and all within the past twelve months. I con- 
sider this $800,000 of deposits, as a source of revenue, worth $^5,000 a year 
to this bank." 

We have sonic banking experiences that we are not permitted to dis- 
close, and certainly not in any letter or printed form, because they might 
fall into the hands of other banks in large towns who might be induced 
to take up bank advertising based upon the experience of others instead 
of using their own judgment, which, by the way, seems to be in advertising 
a very uncertain quantity to rely on with bankers and naturally they 
do not know anything about advertising for themselves, but it has always 
astounded me that that same bank that knows nothing- of advertishvj; for 
itself never seems to have had curiosity enough to know why it is that some 
of their clients who are doing much advertising, increasing their bank ac- 
count with them — and they know it — have never had curiosity enough, I 
say, to find out what advertising it is, how it does it, and whether it would 
suit them. But the banks arc waking up, and they are not only waking 
up to what advertising will do. but what street cars in particular will do 
to bring them business. Let us make an illustration of one town with 
which I am thoroughly familiar, having lived there over twenty years. — 
Chicago. 

A CHICAGO ILLUSTRATION. 

Chicago surface cars carried last year an average of over 1,750,000 
registered fares and transfers per day. That would mean, at a moderate 
computation, over 900,000 different people used the street cars every day. 
As there are only about 560,000 homes in Chicago, it is apparent that 
almost two persons, on the average, ride from each home every day. The 
cost of advertising in Chicago is $966 per month, which brings the cost for 
each day to $32, Figure this out and you will see that 32 divided into 
900,000 is approximately 30,000 people reached for each dollar spent. Now 
figure for yourself where you can spend a dollar to reach any number of 



ADVERTISING MEDIUMS. 23 

people, and how many can you reach for thai money? Why, there's nothing 
in the world as cheap as that to enable an advertiser to keep constantly 
at it, to bring the success that most people get when they keep constantly 
at anything, even when it is badly done, and how much more when it is 
well done. Very truly vours. 

T. BALMER, 
Advertising Director, Street Railways Advertising Company. 




What Business Men Need 

Among the banking requirements of successful business men 
are these : 

An absolutely safe depository for their money and securities. 

A bank with good loaning capacity to facilitate their legitimate 
business interests. 

A bank liberal in its methods but rigidly inspected and conservatively 
managed. 

A bank with able, courteous officers capable of giving customers sound 
business advice. 

A bank fully equipped and organized in every department. 

A bank large enough to inspire the full confidence of its customers. 

This large and strong bank fills every requirement of modern banking. 
Your business is solicited. Our prompt and efficient service is cordially 
placed at your disposal. 

The National Bank of the Republic 

95 Milk Street, Post-office Square 
One of a Newspaper Series Prepared for this Bank by the Author. 



24 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

BILL BOARDS. 

Quite a number of successful hanks and real estate companies 
are now using billboards in their advertising, with good results. 
One strong point in favor of outdoor publicity is that it is seen by 
people when their minds are open for such impressions. 

The location of the billboards is the all-important thing. Along 
the principal street car line, near a ball ground, at a railroad sta- 
tion or at a transfer point — all of these are good locations for bill- 
boards. In cities where there are elevated railroads and subways, 
as in New York, the advertising spaces at the stations are valuable. 
The suburban stations on the Pennsylvania and the Reading rail- 
roads near Philadelphia provide good advertising vantage points. 
In St. Louis and Pittsburgh, among other cities, banks, especially 
savings banks, use large painted billboard signs. So do some New 
York institutions, notably the Flatbush Trust Company. 

Real estate companies everywhere are large users of outdoor 
display advertising, and logically so, as their signs are usually right 
on the property offered for sale. 

Among other mediums of advertising may be mentioned calen- 
dars, novelties, circulars, booklets and form letters. These will be 
considered in later chapters in connection with particular advertis- 
ing plans. 



CHAPTER III. 

Booklets and House Organs. 

MANY a well written booklet advertising a bank., trust com- 
pany^ real estate proposition or other financial or invest- 
ment project is born to blush unseen in the wnste-basket 
because its typographical form and general make-up are not good 
enough to save it from that fate. 

To get read is the first duty of your advertising matter. If it 
fails there, it were just as well not written at all. 

The first thing, therefore, is to plan your booklet so that it will 
be attractive in appearance. Naturally, the title and the cover 
should get the earliest attention. 

Make them interest-exciting. The title does not need to tell 
exactly what the booklet is about. A little mystery is not out of 
place if it excites curiosity and induces people to read the message 
within the covers of your book. 

CHOOSING A TITLE. 

But a plain statement of the subject of the booklet is better 
than the old practice of printing on the cover nothing but the name 
of the institution in whose behalf the booklet is written. 

Following are good examples of bank booklet titles : 

A Bank for All People. 

The Storv of Banking By Mail. 

A Safe Place. 

Happy Children. 

Bank Accounts. 

Why National Banks Are Best. 

Banking- Hints to Customers. 

The Life Story of a Bank. 

Funds for Travelers. 

The People's Interest. 

One Million Dollars. 

Bond or Mortgage, Which? 

Choosing a Bank. 

Men of Pipe Experience. 

Just Think It Over. 

The Service Rendered by a Trust Company. 

How Savings Grow. 



26 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

How to Keep a Trust Company Account. 
Management and Distribution of Estates. 
The Story of a Successful Bank. 

Good titles for real estate booklets are: 

How Money Grows. 
Facts About Greater Boston. 
Forty-five Minutes from Broadway. 
Investors Their Own Bankers. 
This Should Appeal to You. 
Money and Its Investment. 
The Fairyland of Long Island. 
A Profitable Investment. 
Beautiful Suburban Home Sites. 
How to Invest Profitably. 
Transportation. 
Be Your Own Landlord. 

Some Facts About New York City Heal Estate. 
Swept by Ocean Breezes. 
The Place of Beautiful Homes. 
A Great Manufacturing Center. 
Truth That is Stranger Than Fiction. 
Manhattan, an Island Outgrown. 

Why Long Beach Must Become the World's Greatest Shore Resort and 
What That Will Mean To You. 

Brief Facts You Should Know. 

A Demonstration in Real Estate. 

Have You $50? You Can Make $1,000 for $100. 

How They Got Rich; or, Real Estate Facts. 

Free Trip to New York, 

The Hugeness of New York. 

How the Astors Made Their Money. 

If you use a design on the cover, make it as unusual, striking 
and interesting as your title. As a rule it is a good idea to have the 
design suggestive of the subject or the contents of the book. 

As to the ''copy" of the booklet, the same ideas advanced else- 
where in this book in connection with the preparation of advertise- 
ments apply here with equal force. 

HOLDING ATTENTION. 

Just as it is necessary to make the title and cover of the book 
interesting to get the attention of your reader, so it is necessary 
to make your copy bright and interesting in order to hold his at- 
tention. 

Short paragraphs and good typography help, but you must go 
deeper than that. It is doubtful if even the best typography would 



BOOKLETS AND HOUSE ORGANS. 27 

make Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" or the 
Congressional Record interesting for continuous reading. 

If you don't hold your reader's interest you probably won't get 
him as a customer. 

Nor is it enough to attract attention and hold interest. You 
must go a step further — convince your reader and get him to act 
promptly and favorably on your proposition. 

A PERSONAL MESSAGE. 

In order to do this, try to make your message as personal as 
though the reader were a relative or personal friend who had 
droj)ped into your office for a chat and to get some of your advice 
on a business problem or on a matter of personal importance. 

As long as you keep before you the mental image of the typical 
customer to whom you are appealing and talk to him as naturally 
and enthusiastically as you would were he before you in person 
and you were thoroughly interested in him personally, you will 
have no difficulty in holding his interest, and if your proposition 
is all right and your prospect is ripe for it you will get him. 

It is important to get your prospective customer to take some 
definite step, to commit himself, and to do it at once. It is human 
nature to put things off. It is easy to procrastinate. 

The time to strike is while the iron is hot. 

If interest is allowed to die out it will be a very hard matter to 
get your prospect to do as you desire and suggest. So there is a 
psychological and a practical value in the use of an order coupon, 
a deposit blank, etc., in a booklet, and if you print above it the sug- 
gestion: "Fill out and mail this coupon to-day," or words to that 
effect, so much the better. 

Right here comes up another point which is worthy of considera- 
tion in booklet writing as well as in the preparation of other adver- 
tising copy — the use of the imperative. 

USE THE IMPERATIVE. 

Employed with good taste, the Imperative Mood, Second Person, 
is a very effective weapon in the hands of the advertisement writer. 

Everybody is more or less mentally lazy. We like to have others 
think for us sometimes and tell us what to do. Nine times out of 
ten, the average person will act more surely in the direction you 



28 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

desire if you tell him in so many words to "Do it now !" than lie 
will if you leave it to suggestion and inference on his own part. 

When you have a booklet prepared on your proposition it is a 
splendid idea to mention the fact in your advertisements and ask 



NINETY-EIGHT YEARS OLD 

With the beginning of the New Year this bank 
enters on its 99th year of active business life — 
There is probably not a man living today who re- 
members when it first opened its doors— but those 
doors are open now, as they have been on 
every legal banking day' for almost a century, to 
welcome legitimate business in every department 
of banking— 

T±\e 

Rank of Pit feburgii 

JL/NatiorLal Jt Association w 

The Bank That Has Grown Up With Pittsburgh. 
CAPITAL Established 1810. UBPI.US 

$2,400,000. $2,800,000 



Age as an Advertising Point. 

the reader to send for the booklet. This enables you to "key" the 
medium used, judging the relative value of the different publica- 
tions by the number of inquiries produced by each. Moreover, the 
names you secure in this way are valuable to "follow up." Such 
names are better than any random list because the persons who 



BOOKLETS AXD HOUSE ORGANS. 29 

write in answer to advertisements., eliminating a few curiosity seek- 
ers, have shown a definite interest in your particular proposition. 

THE HOUSE ORGAN. 

Consideration of booklet writing naturally leads to the subject 
of house organs, which are practically booklets in more pretentious 
form with the additional feature of periodicity and the added in- 
terest and permanency of anything in the guise of a periodical. 

The author's ideas on this subject are best expressed in an arti- 
cle which he wrote for the "Profitable Advertising" magazine of 
Boston, Mass. The article is as follows: 

Is your house organ a business getter? It can be made a power- 
ful one, but for satisfactory results the best kind of ability must 
go in it. 

A carelessly edited, inane publication is worse than nothing. 
The successful house organ must be as interesting, as well written, 
as a general magazine, but more than that, it must have the strong- 
est kind of pulling power. 

This can be done because it is being done. 

The best point in favor of the house organ is the great oppor- 
tunity it gives for the full and direct personal appeal, than which 
there is no more valuable form of advertising copy. That is what 
gets results. 

The highest attainment of a writer of advertising is to be able to 
make a logical, compelling, effective, argument for cash-with-order 
replies. Success in that is at once the hardest to win and the most 
worth winning. There is no better field for the use of this kind of 
talent than the house organ. 

Comparatively few advertisers can afford what many look upon 
as the luxury of multipage advertisements in the big magazines, 
while for a good many propositions a one-page advertisement pre- 
sents far too little space to tell the story adequately and effectively. 
Experience proves that no matter how good your proposition and the 
medium used are, you have no assurance of full, satisfactory, pay- 
ing results, unless there be the most skillful and powerful personal 
appeal in the copy. The limits of magazine and newspaper adver- 
tising space, as a rule, do not give scope enough for that. 

That is where the house organ comes in. It will solve the prob- 
lem for you if you have the ability at your command to make it what 
it should be. 



30 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

THE HUMAN ELEMENT. 

The house organ must have a strong human element in it. That 
is to say, it is not enough to present to your readers — prospective 
customers — a truthful and logical argument, important as that is. 
You must do more than that, because most people, the common 
cverv-day men and women, whose needs you want to supply, are not 
actuated so much by truth and logic as by their feelings and their 
self-interest. 

So to your cold facts and judicious statements you must add a 
warm personal touch if you would bring the greatest possible 
number of your readers to a prompt and favorable decision on your 
proposition. To be most effective, house organ copy should be as 
intensely individual as though it were a personal, handwritten let- 
ter to the possible buyer. 

After all. it is merely a matter of concentration. Instead of try- 
ing to hit all mankind with the birdshot of glittering generalities, 
put in a cartridge and point your rifle of argument at one partic- 
ular man. Single him out and bring your talk home to him so 
strongly, so inevitably, that there is no escape from it, so that it 
will not only appeal to his reason and convince him, but strike the 
very mainspring of his actions and compel him to do as you suggest. 

The more you know about the value of your own proposition, 
the greater your knowledge of human nature, and the more thor- 
oughly enthusiastic you become, the easier it will be for you to 
write this kind of copy and get results. 

Just remember this: In salesmanship on paper you cannot look 
your prospective buyer in the eye. The chances to communicate 
your own enthusiasm to him by methods you would use were you 
face to face with him are lacking. There can be no expressive 
gesture, no responsive lighting up of the countenance, no actual 
demonstration of the goods. In the printed page you must supply 
this lack by other means. Enthusiasm and personality must take 
another form than in the case of a living salesman in the office or 
behind the counter. 

The house organ has advantages of its own that do much to 
offset the absence of personal contact between buyer and seller. 
Your printed argument can be prepared at leisure, and no strong 
point need be overlooked. If you have the ability to attract and 
hold your reader's attention you need not be interrupted until you 
have laid before him }^our whole story, and pointed out most clearly 



BOOKLETS AXD HOUSE ORGANS. 31 

just what it means to him and why he should act as you ask him to 
act, and at once. 

SPECIALLY INTERESTED READERS. 

Then, it can safely be assumed that a large part of your readers 
are already interested and favorably disposed toward you. This is 
particularly true if your mailing list has been made up of the 
names of inquirers received in response to your advertised offer to 
send your publication free, or if they are to quite an extent already 
customers of yours. 

If you don't make the very most of this fruitful soil, it is your 
own fault. 

It is not my purpose to make suggestions as to the typographical 
form of a good house organ, except to say that I believe that it 
should be of a high order, and in harmony with. the good literary 
style which ought to be maintained in the magazine or paper. It 
pays to use good paper and good illustrations, because even the 
best copy loses force if not presented in pleasing form. The hand- 
somer looking your publication is the more likely it is to attract 
attention, stay out of the waste-paper basket and be preserved to 
work for you. 

But these things come as a matter of course if you have the 
right sort of brains back of your house organ. So I emphasize the 
importance of the man behind. Let him be brimful of ideas, orig- 
inality and enthusiasm. He should know how to give everything he 
writes a tactful turn businessward, and he must hit hard and hit 
all the time. 

It is a great opportunity that is afforded by the house organ 
with a large and specialized circulation. It would be a shame not 
to take advantage of it to the fullest extent, by attractive typog- 
raphy and make-up, in the first place, in order that it may attract 
attention; then by interesting matter; and lastly, and most import- 
ant, by strong, convincing, personal talk, to bring the question 
home to the reader and force him to act. 

Your house organ needs nil the common sense, logic, psychol- 
ogy, personality and enthusiasm you can crowd into it. If you 
have not enough of those things yourself, get somebody to supply 
what you lack, and then give him lots of leeway. 

That is how your house organ can be a great big success. 



32 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

USE SIMPLE WORDS. 

In writing a booklet or any piece of advertising literature it 
is always best to use simple language. 

A fault that is quite common in the advertising of banks and 
other financial houses is that the language used is too stilted, 
formal and technical. 

There are certain words which are part of the daily vocab- 
ulary of everybody, young and old, rich and poor, educated and 
uneducated. They are the domestic, the closely personal words that 
we all use when we are just ourselves and not trying to be dignified 
or reserved. 

As a rule, these words come of good old Anglo-Saxon stock. 
They are homely but strong. They are the heart of our English 
language, the most valuable heritage of our common tongue. 

It is interesting to notice how few words of home and family 
and every-day life are of ponderous Latin or Greek derivation: 

Mother. 

Father. 

Sister. 

Brother. 

Son. 

Daughter. 

Love. 

Home. 

Work. 

Think. 

Walk 

Talk. 

Eat. 

Drink. 

Do. 

Go. 

Buv. 

Sell. 

Run. 

See. 

And so on, as far as you like. Think about it yourself and 
see if it is not true that these simple words are the ones most 
often used in daily life. 

It is agreed that there is no better example of pure English that 
the King James version of the Bible, and its strongest passages 
are written in the simplest language. 



BOOKLETS AND HOUSE ORGANS. 33 

LITTLE WORDS— BIG THOUGHT. 

It does not need big words to express big thoughts — quite the 
contrary sometimes. 

What was the secret of Dwight L. Moody's oratorical power? 
Why did Charles H. Spurgeon have such a following? Why does 
Dr. Charles E. Jefferson fill Broadway Tabernacle to the last seat 
and hold the breathless attention of his hearers? 

Aside from religious considerations, the answer is — strongs sim- 
ple language with a direct personal application. 

No matter how well educated we are, how much we have trav- 
eled and seen, or how old we are, we never get away from the 
influence of the simple language we learned at our mother's knee. 

An uncle of the writer left his home in Scotland when he was a 
youth and came to this country to seek his fortune. But he was 
taken ill and died among strangers at Rochester, N. Y. On his 
deathbed he talked in a strange language which the hospital people 
could not understand. 

It was Gaelic, the language of his childhood. 

All this has a direct bearing upon your advertising problem. 

You may think that the limited number of every-day words 
does not give you scope enough to tell your advertising story as 
fully as it ought to be told. That may be true, but there is nothing 
to prevent jour making your language as simple as possible with- 
out sacrificing clearness or strength. 

STRENGTH IN SIMPLICITY. 

It is really wonderful how much can be said in simple talk and 
how strong it is. There is an advertising man in New York, Leroy 
Fairman by name, who has written a whole book in words of one 
syllable, and it is by no means a primer, either. 

It pays the advertiser to be on the same ground as those he is 
trying to reach. Using commonly understood language is a great 
help in this direction. 

When you meet a stranger you at once begin to talk about the 
weather or some other general topic. 

Why is it? 

Because it is easier to talk about something you have in com- 
mon with the person you have met. Haven't you noticed how much 
better you get on with a stranger when you find out that he and you 



34 



PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 



Lave visited the same places or perhaps used to know the same 
people years ago? 

The inference is plain. Don't come at your prospective cus- 
tomers with "shop talk" and technical terms, which, while per- 
fectly clear to you, may be all Greek to them. 

Come down off your stilts. Use the terse, short, plain words 
with a grip in them, and don't talk over the heads of your pros- 
pective customers. 

One of the largest banks in New York made a failure of the 
attempt to sell a splendid investment security through advertising 




Human Interest in Advertising- 



in magazines, and those familiar with the matter say that the 
fault was not in the securities or the times, but in the copy, which 
was couched in terms so obscure to the average man that it was stale 
and unprofitable. 

A WJSE PUBLISHER. 

One magazine would not accept the advertising, because it was 
clearly seen that the copy had no pulling power, that there was no 
adequate "follow up" literature and that as a consequence the adver- 
tising would likely be a failure, as results later proved it to be. 



BOOKLETS AND HOUSE ORGANS. 35 

The manager of the publication referred to was wise in his 
generation and preferred not to give this bank the opportunity to 
lay the blame for failure upon his medium. 

ENTHUSIASM IN ADVERTISING. 

There are to-day, and there always have been, persons who 
frown upon enthusiasm. 

There are certain circles where it is considered very much out 
of place to give any evidence of this spirit. Enthusiasm is regard- 
ed as vulgar, and enthusiastic persons are not considered worthy of 
as much conridence and respect as are those who habitually hold 
their feelings in restraint and are never betrayed into a display 
of energy. 

Nevertheless, the fact remains that nothing great ever has been 
or ever can be accomplished without enthusiasm somewhere on the 
part of somebody. 

Until the past few years very little enthusiasm was shown in 
advertising. Look at the advertising pages in a file of magazines 
of twenty years ago. Then compare them with the advertising sec- 
tions of modern magazines. 

There has been a vast improvement not only in the mechanical 
end of advertising — in illustration, engraving and printing — but 
there is now a life, a vigor, an enthusiasm in advertising copy which 
was almost totally absent in the advertising of a comparatively 
few years ago. 

ENTHUSIASM MEANS PROGRESS. 

That, with the enormous development of the circulation of peri- 
odicals, accounts for the great growth of the advertising business 
and the prosperity of institutions that advertise intelligently. 

Some time ago the writer in connection witli his work for "The 
Bankers Magazine" sent out a piece of advertising matter to a 
number of bankers. 

It was a little out of the ordinary compared with the copy we 
had used before for that particular purpose. It had a little more 
human interest and enthusiasm in it, but it was in good taste, if 
not superlatively dignified. 

Incidentally it "pulled" better than anything we had ever used 
along that line. 



36 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

But this same piece of advertising literature fell into the hands 
of one of our good friends of the extra dignified, noblesse oblige 
type. 

Metaphorically speaking, he raised his hands in holy horror 
when he read this little human interest document of ours. 

But he sent us his check just the same. 

In the letter accompanying the remittance, however, he unbur- 
dened himself. 

With tears in his voice, he sadly told us that we weren't dignified 
enough and that when addressing BANKERS we could not be too 
serious and respectful. 

"HE'S ONLY HUMAN." 

When the author was a cub reporter on the Syracuse Herald, 
one of his regular assignments was to go to the New York Central 
Railroad station when a prominent man was passing through and 
snatch a three-minute interview with him while the end-of-the- 
division change of engines was taking place. 

When hesitancy about accepting the assignment was shown 
sometimes because of the great prominence of the personage en 
route — a Governor, Senator or Presidential candidate, for exam- 
ple — the city editor would say: 

"What are you afraid of? He's only human." 

That's it, we are all human, and one touch of nature makes the 
whole world kin. 

It is a mighty good thing for the advertiser that human nature 
is the same everywhere, and it is mighty poor advertiser thai 
doesn't make the most of it by putting the right kind of enthusiasm 
into his advertisements, his business letters, booklets, circulars and 
all the printed matter that represents him and seeks to further 
his business. 

It is right and proper to be self-respecting in your advertising, 
but just remember that enthusiasm, like faith, can remove moun- 
tains, but that unbending dignity rarely pays dividends. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Advertising a Commercial Bank. 

DEPOSITS are the lifeblood of every bank's business. 
So. to increase deposits is the primary object of most 
bank advertising. 
There are two things to be remembered and especially empha- 
sized in going after commercial accounts by advertising. 

Depositors will not come to a bank nor remain with it unless 
the}^ have absolute confidence in it; 

Being a depositor with a bank gives one an "open sesame" to its 
many privileges and leads to broader business relations. 

Nine times out of ten, when a man does not use the facilities 
a bank offers it is because he distrusts the institution or does not 
know what it can do for him. 

Thus the problem of the commercial bank's advertising, in the 
last analysis, simmers down to this : 

1. Inspire and maintain popular confidence in your institution. 

2. Educate people as to your ability and willingness to serve 
them in specific ways and prove that it will be greatly to their ad- 
vantage to do business with you. 

Working out in detail the sub-divisions of these two heads is the 
task confronting the commercial bank in its advertising. 

Confidence is a plant of slow growth. 

Advertising of the right sort will accelerate its development, but 
you might as well at once banish from your mind the idea that a 
short or spasmodically conducted advertising campaign will be of 
permanent value to your institution in this respect. 

Advertising increases in value from year to year as it continues. 

ADVERTISING MOMENTUM. 

It is just like the inertia and momentum we learn about in 
physics. 

The non-advertising bank has one kind of inertia — the kind 
that tends to make a body at rest remain so; the advertising bank 
has the other kind — the kind that tends to keep tilings in motion 
when once started. 



38 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

It would be a difficult thing to estimate the full value of strong, 
persistent advertising conducted through a period of years. The 
momentum of such a campaign is irresistible. 

The bank that thus accumulates prestige and good will, so to 
speak, is a hard one to overtake and surpass. 




Says: " I believe that if this money 
of the country, wherever hoarded, 
were at once put back into the channels 
of trade there would be within twenty- 
four hours an almost complete re- 
sumption of business operations." 

Circulate your money through a 
National Bank. You will be the 
gainer. 



Manufacturers 
National Bank 

TROY, N. Y. 




News in Advertising. 



It is just as wise to advertise to hold the confidence and busi- 
ness of depositors you now have as it is to get new ones. Money 
is moneys no matter who deposits it. By continuous publicity along 
proper lines you not only put yourself in a position to receive the 
accounts of the new generation of business men constant!}' coming 
up and of the newcomers in your locality, but you also cement the 



ADVERTISING A COMMERCIAL BANK. 39 

ties that bind your old customers to you and keep the benefit of 
their personal influence and the word-of-mouth advertising that 
they do for you among their friends, acquaintances and business 
associates. 

ADVERTISING IS INSURANCE. 

Thus it will be seen that a bank's advertising may be regarded 
not as an expense at all, but as an investment and a protection — 
an investment very sure arid profitable in its returns and an insur- 
ance against loss of present business. 

In stating that the inspiring of popular confidence comes first 
and educating the public as to banking functions, facilities and 
advantages second, we do not mean that any advertising campaign 
should be arranged on the basis of first running a series of adver- 
tisements devoted entirely to the development of confidence in the 
institution and then following it with a second one dealing with 
the service offered. 

On the contrary, these things should go hand in hand. It would 
be better to alternate the two kinds of advertisements, or, better 
yet, to incorporate both ideas in all the advertising. 

The mere fact that a bank is progressive enough to be a regular 
and intelligent advertiser is in itself confidence-insjDiring, and when 
such "talking points" of both confidence and service as are sug- 
gested at the end of this chapter are skillfully woven into a con- 
tinued advertising story and the story is judiciously placed, good 
results are bound to come. 

Any other outcome would be contrary to all reason and expe- 



EDUCATING THE PEOPLE. 

The great masses of the people and a good many business men 
know very little about banking methods and facilities. 

The bankers themselves are largely responsible for this popular 
ignorance, which keeps away from them a lot of profitable business. 

They are responsible because they have not taken the public into 
their confidence in their advertising, and, in the majority of cases, 
have not made people feel that they need the help of a bank. 

That is why there is now such a crying need for educational 
bank advertising. Nothing else will do, because readers have 
become so used to the strong and interesting advertising in other 



40 



PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 



lines that formal cards and bald, unsupported statements have little 
weight with them. 

The nearest approach to a formula for a successful publicity 
campaign is this: 

Tell old things in a new way and keep everlastingly at it. 

Your Earning Capacity. 

ought to enable you to do more than just make 
your living. You ought to save money. Then 
having saved, the next thing is to set your sur- 
plus to work safely and profitably. 
The best way for you to insure a steady, reliable 
income from your savings is to secure a Certificate 
of Deposit in The National Bank of Commerce in 
St. Louis, one of the strongest in the country. 

These Certificates are issued in any amount from $50 up and 

bear interest at 3%, payable semi-annually or annually, and 

renewable. 

They are negotiable by endorsement for their full value under 

ordinary conditions. 

You are earning now but your earning capacity 

Can't Last Forever 

Now is the time to fund some of your capital. 

For those with funds already accumulated, firms with a large 

reserve, those having charge of estates awaiting investment, 

there is no better way to employ money. 

Certificates of Deposit in this bank are safe — capital, surplus and 

undivided profits of $18,620,704.34 guarantee that — and 3% is 

a profitable interest return. 

Our valuable booklet, "You and the Rainy Day," tells more 

about the Certificates of Deposit and gives practical advice on 

money matters. Send for it today. 

The National Bank of Commerce 

in St. Louis 
Broadway and Olive Street 

Advertising Certificates of Deposit. 



Now for some definite suggestions. 

The matter of checks and the value of a checking account is 
something that ought to provide a great deal of good advertising 
material for any institution desiring to make a strong hid for new 
commercial accounts. 



ADVERTISING A COMMERCIAL BANK. 41 

The reproductions of several advertisements prepared by the 
author for the National Bank of Commerce in St. Louis illustrate a 
series of educational advertisements which proved very effective. 

Perhaps you say: "Why, every business man knows those sim- 
ple facts about checks." 

Well, as a matter of fact, every business man does not know 
even those simple facts, as you can very easily find out by asking 
a few questions among your business acquaintances. 

Moreover, here is a very interesting fact in psychology (or 
human nature, if you please), namely: People like to read about 
matters with which they are already more or less familiar. 

Consider your own case for a minute and see if this is not so. 

You are a delegate to a convention, you attend an entertainment, 
go to a ball game, or are a witness in a law suit, let us suppose. 
Now, although you are perfectly familiar with what has taken 
place in the convention, at the entertainment, on the diamond or 
in the court room, nevertheless you eagerly buy a paper at the first 
opportunity in order to read about what you already know. 

If you discover in a magazine an article about some place you 
have visited, don't you read every word of it? 

You are a banker and supposedly know about all there is to 
be known about negotiable instruments, but would you not find a 
good deal to interest you even in an encyclopedia article on the 
subject? 

In this subject of checks, their safety^ their convenience, their 
cleanliness, the business prestige they give the user, and a hundred 
and one other ideas that will occur to you if you sit down and con- 
sider the matter thoughtfully, there ought to be enough of interest 
and value to provide material for a long series of newspaper adver- 
tisements or street car cards. 

And when you get around to the subject of checks again you can 
tell the same story in another way. 

It is a good thing for the advertiser that while human nature is 
always the same the English language is very flexible and the same 
idea can be presented in an infinite variety of ways. 

CREDIT AND LOANS. 

Then there is the subject of credit and loans for commercial 
purposes. 

There is a good deal of ignorance on this point. Many a worthy 
young business man does not realize just how a <j;ooi\ bank would 



43 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

be able and willing to help him in expanding his business legiti- 
mately by timely assistance. 

So an occasional educating talk, like that in one of the National 
^•ink of Commerce advertisements shown herewith, would lead to 
desirable business of this sort. 



.About Checks, 



A bank is not liable to the holder of a check until it accepts or cer- 
tifies the check, and a bank is not bound to make partial payment on a 
check if the drawer has not sufficient funds to his credit to make full 
payment. 

If a depositor draws several checks aggregating more than he has 
standing to his credit, the bank pays them in the order of presentation, 
without regard to dates or numbers, until the depositor's credit is ex- 
hausted. The bank may refuse to honor checks subsequently presented. 

Every check must be indorsed. The indorsement should be on the 
back of the check and as near the left end as possible in order to make 
room for subsequent indorsements. 

These are a few facts about checks not as generally known as they 
ought to be. The convenience and safety of having a checking account 
at The National Bank of Commerce in St. Louis, the city's strongest 
financial institution, should also be known and appreciated by every 
business man in St. Louis. 

*' Write or call for full information as to how this big bank can help 
you. 



The National Bank of Commerce 

in St. Louis 
Broadway and Olive Street 



Educational Advertising. 

The advantages of certificates of deposit are not brought out as 
strongly as they might be a good many times. Besides calling 
attention to the desirability of such certificates for the building up 
of a reserve and for the profitable employment of funds tempor- 
arily idle, it is possible to feature the interest-bearing certificates 
of deposit in such a way that a National, State or private bank can 



ADVERTISING A COMMERCIAL BANK. 43 

go after savings accounts much as if they really had a savings de- 
partment. A way to do this is illustrated in some of the advertise- 
ments reproduced in the chapter on savings bank advertising. 

In the same way, as outlined in these several cases, the com- 
mercial bank can tell prospective customers about such features 
of its service as: 

Commercial letters of credit, collections, drafts, discounts, bank 
money orders, transferring of money by telegraph or cable, and, 
in short, about scores of such functions and facilities as are hinted 
at in the list at the close of this chapter. 

The fact that the officers of the bank are always ready to give 
customers the benefit of their expert advice on the matter of invest- 
ments and other business questions is one that cannot be too strongly 
brought out in advertising, but how infrequently it is done ! 

HUMAN CONSIDERATION. 

Aside from offering your customers a very tangible advantage 
in thus giving them the privilege of consulting you on matters of 
prime importance to them, advertising in this way serves to bring 
out the human element in your business. 

A good deal is said about "soulless corporations," and it is 
rather hard to get enthusiastic about a great, cold, lifeless, machine- 
like institution. But if you can make people feel that your busi- 
ness is dominated by men with human sympathy, understanding and 
consideration — men who are not only approachable, but glad to be 
approached — you have taken a long step toward creating a good 
will for your institution, which, while not figuring in your state- 
ment of assets, will be worth a great deal to you in dollars and 
cents. 

Along this same line it is a splendid thing to emphasize in your 
advertising the strength of the personnel of your officers and di- 
rectorate, as is done in the following instances: 

The Northern National Bank of Ashland, Wis., in an attrac- 
tive booklet says of its directors: 

Our Board of Directors consists of representative business men of 
Northern Wisconsin, an assurance to those having business with the bank 
that their interest will be surrounded by all the safeguards possible. 

It comments on official changes thus: 

At the last meeting of the Board of Directors, the following changes 
were made in the official staff, owing to the resignation of Mr. Frank 



U PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

Boutin as vice-president. (Mr. Boutin remains as a director of the bank.) 
Mr. C. F. Latimer, cashier of the bank since its organization, was 

elected vice-president. 

Mr. R. B. Prince, for some years past assistant cashier, was 

elected cashier. Mr. Prince has been with the bank in various capacities for 

nearly twenty years. 



.About Loans. 



The loaning capacity of The National Bank of Commerce in St. Lot 



is very great on account of its large capital, surplus and deposits. 

A customer, keeping an account. Jiere and carrying good average, 
balances may be readily accommodated in the way of a loan when he 
needs it. 

To secure a line of credit at this "$F5,ooo^boo bank iris~rrecessary 
for a depositor to make us a statement showing that he is entitled to it 
or else to place with us collateral of value to cover the amount which 
he borrows. 

Of course, in granting a line of credit to depositors it is expected 
that|they shall carry deposits with the bank sufficient to justify the 
accommodation. The amount generally required is about 20 per cent 
of the line desired. 

Men in business, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, generally 
-borrow on the strength of their financial condition. Professional men 
and others not having capital put up collateral for loans. 

Owing to the large resources of this bank we are often able U> 
secure capital for meritorious enterprises, business extensions, etc., by 
bringing those desiring the accommodation to people who have money 
for that purpose. 



The National Bank of Commerce 

in St. Louis 
Broadway and Olive Street 



Better than a Business Card. 

Mr. F. M. Cole, paying teller, was elected assistant cashier. Mr. Cole 
has been in the service of the bank for fifteen years. 

Mr. E. G. Fisher, receiving teller, and Mr. H. H. Fuller, accountant, 
have held positions of trust for periods covering twelve years. 

The People's Savings Bank and Trust Co., of Moline, 111., pre- 
faces a complete statement of the business connections of its direct- 
ors by saying: 



ADVERTISING A COMMERCIAL BANK. 45 

The personalities of the Board of Directors (that is, their success in 
business, and the careful judgment and business acumen which they bring 
to the management of the bank's affairs) count for more than capital stock 
and surplus. The stronger the business personalities of the directors and 
management, the more pronounced and substantial is the success of the 
bank. 

One or two of these statements are particularly full of human 
interest, for example: 

C. H. Deere: President Deere & Co., Deere & Mansur Co.; John Deere 
Plow Co., Kansas City; Deere & Webber Co., Minneapolis; John Deere 
Plow Co., Omaha; John Deere Plow Co., St. Louis; John Deere Plow Co., 
Dallas, Texas; Deere Implement Co., San Francisco; John Deere Plow Co., 
Portland, Ore.; John Deere PIoav Co., New Orleans; John Deere Plow Co., 
Indianapolis: Deere-Clark Motor Car Co., Moline; director American Trust 
& Savings Bank and Western Trust & Savings Bank, Chicago, etc., etc. 

P. H. Wessel: Practicing physician. Has practiced medicine in Moline 
for thirty-five years. Has been three times elected mayor of Moline. Held 
in very high esteem by his fellow citizens. Thoroughly prosperous in 
business. Is a member and treasurer of the State Board of Health. 

J. T. Browning: Practiced law in Moline for thirty-eight years. For 
last ten years has devoted his time entirely to the care of his property and 
to farming. Large holder of real estate in and around Moline. Lives 
on his farm one and one-third miles south of the city. In 1874-78 repre- 
sented his Senatorial District in the Lower House of the State Legislature. 
One of the incorporators of the First National Bank (which was absorbed 
by the Peoples Savings Bank and Trust Co. February 10, 1905) in 1863, 
and a member of its first Board of Directors. He has been one of the 
directors ever since, and for some years was president of the Peoples 
Savings Bank. 

J. S. Gillmore: Cashier of the bank from 1868 to January, 1906. Upon 
his resignation, board of directors presented him with a year's salary as an 
indication of their appreciation of his many years of faithful service, and 
of the high esteem they hold for him. 

C. W. Lundahl: Cashier and secretary of the bank. Has been asso- 
ciated in the management of the bank for twenty-three years. For six 
years was assistant cashier. He is one of the most conspicuous examples 
in this locality as to the value and rewards of thrift and economy. He 
is a real estate holder in Moline. Though still in the prime of life, he has 
accumulated a competency by "mere dint" of hard work and careful living. 

"Your money is safe under the eyes of such men. With ample capital 
and surplus, fifty years' experience and success in banking, and an unusu- 
ally strong board of directors, you cannot find an institution in the coun- 
try better qualified to attend to your banking business." 

The American Trust and Savings Bank of Chicago issued a 
handsome booklet containing a condensed statement of condition, a 
directory of the bank building and portraits of all the officers and 
directors of the bank, among whom arc such prominent men as 
E. H. Gary of the United States Steel Corporation; E. P. Ripley, 



46 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

president of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway; and Theo- 
dore P. Shonts, of the Interborough R. R., New York. 

"Men of Ripe Experience" is the title of a booklet issued by the 
Cleveland Trust Company as a compilation of the names and busi- 
ness affiliations of the directors and advisory council of the com- 
pany. In the introduction are the following paragraphs: 

The character of a bank's management has much to do with gaining 
the public confidence, which is so necessary to its success. The directors 
must be well known and successful business men who are ever alert in the 
bank's interests and willing- to give their conscientious efforts to increas- 
ing the business along safe lines. 

If the names of the directors be ever so strong, however, and they are 
directors in name only, they are a source of weakness and might better be 
replaced by less conspicuous men who would appreciate the sacredness of 
the trust imposed on them. 

The Cleveland Trust Company has been fortunate in having had from 
its beginning directors who have been enthusiastic in their devotion to its 
affairs, and have given their time and attention without stint to building 
up the Company's business. 

No important action has been taken nor policy adopted by this bank 
without the sanction of the majority of its directors after careful consid- 
eration. The minutes of the company will show this to be true. 

INDIVIDUALITY IN ADVERTISING. 

All this kind of thing makes for individuality in bank advertis- 
ing and that is a very valuable point. The objection is sometimes 
made by too conservative bankers who are being urged to go in for 
"educational" advertising that such broad advertising will bring 
business to every bank in the community. 

It certainly will., but if individuality in copy and style is devel- 
oped and maintained the advertising bank will get fully ninety per 
cent, of the new business created. 

This matter of individuality is especially important in the 
advertising of a bank to get business from other banks, because 
the service offered in such particulars as collections for correspond- 
ents and in taking care of reserves is practically the same among 
all banks. 

The right kind of advertising, such as is suggested in this book 
— this is said advisedly, sincerely and with due modesty — will cre- 
ate for you an individuality which will in time enable your insti- 
tution to forge ahead of your competitors who are not advertising in 
a modern way, and at least to divide the business evenly with such 
of your competitors as are awake to the fact that a new day is at 
hand in financial publicity. 



ADVERTISING A COMMERCIAL BANK. 



4T 



In regard to the advertisement reproduced on this page, 
the author commented in "The Bankers Magazine/' as follows: 

" 'Printers Ink/ the 'Little Schoolmaster' of the advertising 
business, performed only half its duty when in a recent issue it took 

occasion to criticise this ad- 
vertisement of The Phenix 
National Bank. 

"The criticism had some 
justification, but it was ad- 
ministered so caustically 
that it had no particular val- 
ue either for the Phenix 
Bank or for financial adver- 
tisers in general. 

"The burden of showing 
a better way rests with the 
critic. We propose to criti- 
cise that same Phenix ad., 
but we will not be blind to 
its good points and will try 
to be constructive rather 
than destructive in our crit- 
icism. 

"This ad. is not as effect- 
ive as it might be, but it is 
so much better than the av- 
erage bank advertisement in 
the New York papers that 
it shines like a good deed in 
a naughty world. 

"It doesn't tell very 
much about the bank, it is 
true — just about as much as 
; of many other New York 




A Good Beginning. 



is dour by the perfunctory advertising 
banks. 

"But the cut of the bronze tablet is unique and attracts atten- 
tion. However, just attracting attention to your advertisement is 
not enough. 

"What would you think of a man who shouted and waved at 
you on the street, and then, after making all this fuss over you. let 
you go on your way without telling you what it was all about? 



4S PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

"Probably you would suspect the 'D. T.s', or something like that. 

"If, after attracting your, attention, he silently pointed you to 
his place of business, you would understand a little better, but the 
chances arc you would not be convinced or satisfied even then. 

"It's like what John B. Gough used to say about sitting down on 
a hornet's nest — very stimulating but not very nourishing. 

"Most banks attract attention in a more or less feeble way by 
their card announcements. The Phenix ad. attracts attention strong- 
ly, but does little more than point out its location — a good thing in 
itself, but why stop there? 

"Why not use the same cut with a mortise in it for change of 
copy daily? There would be the same general publicity value, 
day by day and cumulative, and, in addition, there would be oppor- 
tunity for a really interesting and educating campaign, though prob- 
ably larger space v ould be needed to do it adequately. 

"That this would pay is proved by the experience of banks that 
have given the idea a thorough trying out. It is as certain as cause 
and effect. 

"If New York was a finished city, if there was no new genera- 
tion of business men constantly coming up, if thousands of new- 
comers were not added to the city's population every week, if the 
human memory was perfect and the human mind not subject to 
what Drummond called 'the expulsive power of a new affection' 
(i. e., if customers could not be weaned away to another bank) one 
statement of the Phenix Bank's, or any other bank's, claims upon 
the interest of the business public would be enough. 

"But what's the use? It is a condition and not a theory that con- 
fronts us." 

TALKING POINTS. 

Following are some points which can be used to advantage in 
general bank advertising: 

Government supervision. 

Frequent inspection by Comptroller of the Currency and by committee 
of directors. 

Bank account a basis for loans. 

Earning good dividends for stockholders. 

Conservatism, progressiveness, courtesy. 

Age and history of bank. 

Details of Government regulation. 

Campaign of education on banking methods. 

Explaining statements in non-technical language. 

Prompt collections. 

Par arrangements. - , 



ADVERTISING A COMMERCIAL BANK. 49 

Growth of community — resources and industries. 

Capital, surplus, undivided profits. 

Depository for United States, State, County, City. 

Relative standing of bank among other institutions in community or 
country. 

Growth of deposits shown graphically. 

Double liability of stockholders. 

Come in and meet officers. 

Answering questions of public. 

Advice on investment, business, etc. 

Percentage of reserves. 

The number of accounts as well as the total amount of deposits. 

Physical protection, vaults, safes, time locks, burglar alarms, fire- 
proof construction of building. 

Banking by mail. 

Location — as to territory surrounding and as to convenience in com- 
munity. 

Certificates of deposit — interest bearing, transferable by indorsement, 
not subject to attachment, good security. 

Directors who direct. 

Directors successful in other lines of business. 

Not a "one man" bank. 

Foreign exchange. 

Clerks who use foreign languages. 

Discounting negotiable paper and commercial bills. 

Expert heads of departments. 

Depositing all receipts with bank and making all disbursements by 
check. 

Information department. 

Modern equipment. 

Drafts on principal cities of the world. 

Letters of credit. 

Travelers' checks. 

Money transmitted by cable. 

Officers and employees bonded. 

Prestige of dealing with a big bank. 

Prompt remittance of collections. 

Frequent audits, examinations by directors' committee. 

No past due paper. 

No re-discounting. 

Amount of circulation taken out. 

Success of bank built on prosperity of customers. 

Use of a motto and emblem. 

Amount of deposits shows popular confidence. 

Surplus and profits show prosperity. 

Establishing a credit. 

How capital is invested. 

Long history shows satisfactory service. 

Table of growth of deposits over a period of years. 

Accuracy in detail. 

How bank has weathered panics. 

Advantages of bank money orders, 
4 



50 



PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 



Personal wealth of stockholders. 

The laws safeguarding National banks. 

Banks add value to yo ur property and convenience to your business. 

Charging due paper unpaid to profit and loss. 

Answering inquiries of non-residents. 

Bank does not speculate nor promote speculative enterp rises. 

Membership in clearing-house. 

Employees are bonded. 

Confidential relations between officers and customers. 

Negotiating farm loans. 

List of correspondent banks. 

Record of loans made without loss or foreclosure. 



The young business man 

who Las demonstrated ability 
successfully to conduct a small 
business will receive special aften- 
tion ana consideration rrom 

The National Bank 

OF THE 

REPUBLIC 

.BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

ROBERT MATHER JOHN R. MORRON ROLLIN A. KEYES 

Pre. Rod Mud R. R. Sy«a» Pro.DUnoiKlCli.Co. Fr.»Uin M.cV<auh & Co. 

LOUIS F. SWIFT CHAS. H. CONOVER JOHN A. LYNCH 

Pre.. Swifl & Coop.ny Vio.-Pni. Hibb^i SotncM. Praidml 

JOHN V.FARWELLJr. B«tf™ «. oT^ J. B. GREENHUT 

v^/tZ'Jl ^ FRANK E.VOGEL Opiul«.P«rU 

E. B. STRONG VWW&mdCoope.o; Co. H. W. HEINRICHS 

Opiulifl HFTsTRV STFY~F1 Vice-Prej. M. D. Wells Co. 

FRANK O LOWDEN Pr^^^clXdC,.. W: T. FENTON 

New Y».k Vi«.Pre.«fei,l 

id Profits, $3,000,000. La Salle and Monroe 



Good Business. 

Helping young business men. 

Interest on time deposits. 

Length of service of officers. 

Making a feature of statement to Comptroller. 

Proportion of surplus to capital. 

Accuracy in detail; promptness in execution. 

Number of dividends paid to stockholders. 

Encouraging small deposits. Having many small notes. 

Directors in constant touch with affairs of bank. 

Bonds bought and sold. 

Conservative, safe, panic-tried. 

Real estate holdings of directors. 

Build up your credit. 

Night watchman — electric alarm system. 

Our customers' success is our success. 

A time-tested bank. 

The quality of securities held. 



CHAPTER V. 

Savings Bank Advertising. 

THE customers of the savings bank come from a broader field 
and are more numerous than those of. any other financial 
institution. Likewise its appeal is more personal and there 
are greater possibilities of human interest in its advertising story. 

Everybody who earns money should save some of it and deposit 
his earnings in a strong bank, 

That is the gospel the savings bank has to preach. It has in- 
numerable texts and hundreds of different ways to preach it. The 
subject of thrift is an old one, but it has not been exhausted yet. 
And a new generation is constantly rising up that needs instruction 
in the straight and narrow path of saving that leads to financial 
independence. 

The first and most important part of the savings bank's cam- 
paign for deposits is the newspaper and street car advertising. All 
other advertising is, as a rule, subsidiary to this. 

If there are daily papers in your community, use the best of 
them at least twice a week. Every day in the week would be bet- 
ter. If your appropriation will not permit large space every day, 
it is better to use smaller space continuously than large space infre- 
quently. 

Six small ads., one each on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, will bring better aggregate re- 
sults than a single weekly advertisement of a size equal to the total 
space of the six smaller ones. 

FREQUENT CHANGE OF COPY. 

No matter if it does involve considerable work, there should be 
a change of copy each insertion in all savings advertisements. The 
same style, and if possible the same position in the paper should 
be maintained constantly. In this way, by frequent change of copy, 
but steady use of the same place and typographical style, you are 
able to convey the impression of continuity and stability and still 
give a freshness and educational value to your advertising that will 
attract, interest and convince the public, your possible depositors. 



NO MAN IS POOR 

WHO PUTS HIS SAVINGS REGULARLY IN 

He Citizens' §» Bank 

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BUILDING. 

Pre*, fL B. TyK. V!e*-Pr«», Tkowi Berry. 

4 <•!. ri.lltr.F- i. Klrta. Inl. CMkler, Stuart A. Prut* 




iliitaaniauiiiplank 

ff=^y<>ri«) or dctroit. &ji^=?=?2> , .^» 



CAPITAL $250.000. Q-P 



SURPLUS $ I25.000.O? 



BANK ACCOUNTS 

This bank desires to serve a larger number of depos- 
itors with whom it can have close personal relations, and 
solicits, the accounts of firms, corporations or individuals. 

1S3 GRISWOLD ST.. COR. LAFAYETTE AVE. 

Branch— Cor. Michigan Ave. and Thirty-fourth St. 




To Any 
Amount 

Deposited with this bank 
will make a practical Christ- 
mas Gift for Wile, Son. 
Paughter or Friend. 

Money deposited, in their 
name will make tfle Christ 
mas a joyous one. Remember 
tha. little ones with ordinary 
Gifts— the older ones with 
DOLLARS— which will grow 
with the 8 per cent we pay. 



THE DIME SAVINGS BANK, 

Cop. Fort and GrUwold atroota. 



DETROIT. MICH. 



fT 



This Bank Is Six MontjwOld To-day. 

All Saving's Bank 
Records Broken 

It is a significant fact that during the first six months of 
its career the volume of this bank's business has exceeded that 
of ?n> Savings Dank heretofore established in Washington 

Following is the monthly statement of our deposits 

Watch Us Grow! 



123.484.42 

S39.445.06 
S48.2S6.88 
$73,053.82 

$80,276.52 

$116,727.75 

^Deposit your funds here where— they will c 



July 30 
Aug. 30 
Sapt.30 
Oct. 30 
Nov. 30 



CITIZENS Sgvin^Ban k 



Conservative 
Management 



Government 
Supervision. 



1406 N. Y. Ave. Bond Building. 

3% Interest on Savings Accounts. 
2% Interest on Checking Accounts. 



Let The Wife Try 

Some men cannot save, but the 
family prospers because the wife 
keeps a savings account and depos- 
its every dollar she can spare from 
her allowance with now and then a 
larger sized bill. 

Many homes are saved and paid 
for^because the wife realizes the ne- 
cessity of laying aside part, of the 
family income against the day of 
need. 

Several hundred ladies carry ac- 
counts with this bank, and it is our 
pleasure to extend our lady deposi- 
tors every consideration and courtesy. 

We pay 4 per cent interest com- 
pounded semi-annually. 

Let Your Savings Work, Too 

DES MOMS SAVINGS BANK 

Northwest Corner West Fifth and Walnut 



Strong Savings Bank'Advertising. 



SAVINGS BANK ADVERTISING. 53 

Haphazard advertising will not accomplish the best results. 
Plan a campaign as a whole. Then carry it out systematically. 

The conditions vary in different communities and with different 
institutions, but the following outline of a campaign for savings 
deposits, successfully carried out in a Western city, ought to be of 
value as an example: 

The daily newspapers formed the backbone of the campaign, 
of course. Four daily papers, including one German publication, 
were used three times a week, the space being 100 lines, double 
column. That is, the advertisement occupied about three inches 
and a half in two columns. 

Plain type display without cuts was used and there was change 
of copy with each insertion. As a means of "keying" the advertise- 
ments and to strengthen the copy psychologically by inducing 
readers to do something definite at once, each advertisement con- 
tained a request to send for a free booklet on savings, and a small 
home savings bank. 

The arguments used were not directed exclusively to the wage 
earner or the person of small income, but the appeal was also to 
the man of high-salaried position and to the business man. 

Concrete examples of how real persons were actually saving 
' money were given and the reader was urged to go and do likewise. 
The copy was dignified, but personal in style. 

The personal pronoun "you" had a very prominent place, as it 
should have in all advertising. 

FORM LETTERS AND CIRCULARS. 

In the street car advertising, cards with striking designs and 
short, snappy copy were run in all the cars of several of the prin- 
cipal lines. New cards were put in every month. 

A series of form letters and circulars was also prepared to be 
mailed to special lists, including teachers, clergymen, policemen, 
firemen, members of fraternal organizations, etc. 

Among the talking points used in the advertisments of this 
savings bank campaign were the following: 

Small accounts welcome. 

Interest— the rate, frequency of compounding:, method of computing, 
how it makes money grow. 
Deposits by mail. 
Safetv from fire and thieves. 






Irving Savings 
Institution 

115 Chambers St., New York. 



fl to S3.000— entltlod there 
\on Dec. 31. 1907, payable < 



THE MANHATTAN 
SAVINGS INSTITUTION, 

NOS. 644-846 BROADWAY. 
113TH SEMI-ANNUAL. DIVIDEND. 

December 10th, 1907. 
The Trustees of this Institution have do 



foui 






remaining on deposit during 

~~ionths ending on the 31st insi., payaDie on 

nd after January 20th. 1908. 

Deposits made on or before January 10th, 
"• -".raw Interest from January 1st, 



The Metropolitan Savings Bank. 

' "" 1 8 THIRD AV., (opp. Cooper Institute.} 
CHARTEBED 1852. 

109th DIVIDEND. 

" r York^-Dec. 10th. 190T. 
B HALF YEAR ENDING 



INTEREST JOIl 1 



31ST. 1907, *♦ I 



FOUR PER CENT, Per Annum 



JONATHAN B. CURRBY. 
J BDWARD SHERER. Secretary. 



henry eieocL frank e. vogel 

HENRY SIIGIL a CO 

PRIVATE BARRBRS 

MAIN FLOOR 



lafr? .' 4 .yffBP 



4J£ Per Cent Interest 

Paid-fin Deposits from $1 to $3,000 

MONBjy DEPOSITED ON OR BEFORE JAN-Y 
INTEREST .READY AND^AYABLeTf DESIRED 

l_mqy be wlth d 
with. 




eoajAfss are _.„ 

D CONTROL 

KNOWW.BUSINCSS MEN ENGAGEdTn" LEoIt 
IMATE- MERCANTILE ENTERPRISES. ' 

writ* roa OIROUIAR. 

Honi. i»a.H. to 5.30 P. M. 
r.U CHAMPION, «,.,,. DOHERtY. 

Asst. Cashich 



HAMPJ6N, 

CASHitB 



The Bowery Savings Bank, 

128 AND 130 BOWERY. 

NEW YORK. Dec. 16*. 1007. 
A semi-annual .Uvldenj" at the rate of 

fOuR.per cent. 



acnuni ha 


3 been declared- nod will bo. 




osltor* on all sumi 








5 »3.000. 




aye been deposited 


at least 








next and wl 


1 be 'pay»ble_on 


nd after 


Monday, Janu 


ary 20th. 1908. 




Money deposited on or before I 




n-111 draw inte 






JOHN" J. SINCLAIR. 1st Vic 


• Pros'*. 


HENRY A 


SCHENCK. •Jnd \ 


icc-rres.'t. 


WILLIAM 'E. 


KNOX. Secretary. 





THE BANK FOR SAVINGS 

rN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 

280 Fourth Avenue. Dec. 13th. 1907. 1 
177TH SEMI-ANNUAL DIVIDED. I 



The Board of Trustt 
est dividend for the 6 
ber 319t, 1907. at th 



3 declared an iiner- 
; Months ending Deceni- 
rate of POUR PER 



of ta. 

vards entitled thereto, and payablo 
ifter Jan. 20th. 1908. -- 

The dividend will be credited to depositors as 
irlnclpal, January' 1st, 1908. 

Deposits mado' on or before January 10th will 
Iraw Interest it 1908. 

WALTER TRIMBLE, President. 

CHARLES A. SHERMAN. Secr<t«ty. 

JAMES KNOWLES, Comptrollers 



Union Dime Savings Institution 

BROADWAY. 32D ST., AND 6TH AVENUE. 
GREELEY SQUARE. NEW YORK. 

Interest Four Per Cent 

Per annum from $5 to $3,000. Credited Jan- 
uary 1st, payable January 16th. or any time 
later. CHARLES E. SPRAGUE, President. 

FRANCIS M. LEAKE, Treasurer. 

WILLIAM G. ROSS, Secretary. 



The Brooklyn Savings Bank, 

COR. PIERREPONT ft CLINTON STREETS, 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 

December 14, 1907. 
INTEREST AT THE RATE OF 

FOUR PER GENT. PER ANNUM 

will be credited to depositors with this bank, 
January 1st next, on all sums entitled thereto, 
(payable on and after January 20th.) 

MONEY DEPOSITED on or before January 
10th will draw Interest from Januory let. 1908. 

BRYAN H. SMITH, President. 

FELIX E. FLANDREAU. Cashier. 

EDWIN P. MAYNARD. Comptroller. 



SEAMEN'S BANK FOR SAVINGS, 

74 and 7G Wall Street. 
• THE TRUSTEES HAVE ORDERED THAT 
INTEREST be paid to depositors entitled there- 
to under the by-laws, andta 
the Savings Bank laws, foto 



Payable on and a 



Deposits made on or ! 



I GREENWICH SAVINGS BANK 



6"HX MONTHS and THREE 1 

MONTHS ENDINO DEC. 31. 1907. on s'l! 
sums from five dollars to three thouc?.ad dol- r 
lars. entitled thereto under the by-laws, pay- 
ablo Jan. 20, 190S. ,» 

' JAMES QUINLAN. President. '■» I 
.CHARLES M. DUTCHER. Treas, • 

!' 
Deposits made or r or before JAN. 10, 1901, 
.will draw Interest from JAM, i. 1901. ; 



How Not to Do It. 



SAVINGS BANK ADVERTISING. 55 

Importance of thrift— moral value, becoming independent, preparing 
for old age and the "rainy day," adding to self-respect, the foundation of 
success, the basis of credit, saving for a home, for an education, being 
ready for ooportunities. 

Saving the first $100. 

Withdrawals at any time. 

Savings create capital— a reserve fund. 

Convenient location. 

Conservative management. 

Perfect equipment. 

Teach children saving. 

Age of institution. 

Officers interested in depositors' welfare. 

State regulation and supervision. 

Experienced officers. 

Figures of institution's growth. 

Prompt and courteous service. 

Large capital and surplus. 

Conservative loans — how secured. 

System in saving. 

Examples of actual experience. 

Home safes. 

"Burglar insurance." 

Physical protection — massive vaults, time locks, electric alarm signals, 
bank always lighted. 

Personnel of board of directors or trustees. 

In good times prepare for hard times. 

Certificates of deposit. 

Free booklets, home bank, calendar, etc. 

Putting money to work. 

NOW is the time. 

Quoting prominent men. 

Limit spending, not saving. 

Insuring the future. 

The needs of dependents. 

Open one evening in the week, until 8 o'clock. 

The large amount of new copy required in this campaign neces- 
sitated a constant effort to present old ideas in new form. Prob- 
ably all there is to be said about saving money has been said a 
great many times. The problem of the savings bank advertiser, 
therefore, is to say these things in a new way and to make a per- 
sonal application of the truths to the individual reader, his possible 
customer. 

As to the results of this particular campaign, it need only be 
said that the large number of new depositors secured as a result 
of the six months' campaign brought enough business to the bank 
in the course of that year to much more than pay the expense of 
the advertising. 



56 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

ADVERTISING FOR THE FUTURE. 

The benefit of a campaign of advertising extends far beyond 
the period during which the advertisements appear. This is read- 
ily seen when it is considered that persons who are secured as de- 
positors and customers of the bank to-day through the advertising 
may continue with it, becoming constantly more valuable customer? 
of the institution not only because of the increasing size of their 
own accounts but also because of the many new depositors they bring 
to the bank from among their relatives and friends. 

In fact, advertising may be an endless chain and in cumulative 
effect its value may multiply as in an arithmetical progression. 

The details of the advertising campaign must be carefully looked 
after. It is especially important to keep a complete record of all 
facts in connection with the newspaper advertisements. There 
should be a careful checking up of space, position and insertions in 
connection with the bills for the advertising. 

LARGE SCALE SAVING. 

In connection with the suggestion made that savings arguments 
in advertising should be adapted not alone to persons of small or 
moderate income, the following extract from an address made by 
General Manager Hugh Chalmers of the National Cash Register 
Company, to the company's traveling salesmen, is interesting: 

Every man connected with our selling force ought to give himself a 
saving quota, just as we give him a selling quota. 

Our business is too hard a business, and requires too much mental and 
physical effort for a man not to save money out of it. 

You ought not to cany those trunks, and that baggage, and ride over 
the country day and night, for a mere living. I can name you a dozen 
businesses where you can make a living much more easily than this. But if 
you are looking for the one chance of your life to accumulate dollars, you 
have it in this business. 

Save your money — save all you can. Five thousand dollars a year is 
not too much for some of you to save. I know when I had an agency for 
five years there was not a year that I did not save $5,000, and I had only a 
one-man territory to do it in. 

If there is a man selling; our goods who cannot save at least $2,000 a 
year, let him look for some other business. This may sound harsh to you, 
but it is right. It depends largely on you whether you are going to do 
this or not. If you live up to $5,000 a year you cannot save $2,000. 

How not to advertise a savings bank is best seen by a glance 
at the illustration showing the advertisements of a number of New 



SAVINGS BANK ADVERTISING. 57 

York City savings institutions^ taken from a single issue of a New 
York paper. 

The author has in his possession a copy of "The Ulster County 
Gazette/' printed in Kingston^ N. Y., more than a hundred years 



Is Your Money 



making money for you ? The more of it you have 
employed for you, the less you need to work your- 
self. If you keep on saving and putting your sav- 
ings to work, the funded capital of your earning 
years will gradually take up the burden and you 
will not need to work at all. 

In the meantime you are insured against hard luck or hard times. 
Have you ever thought about having some -noney 

At Work For You? 

If not, it is time you did if you have any regard for your future 
comfort or for the well being of those dependent upon you. 

Now is the time to begin to save. If you want to start on the 
road to financial independence, "or if you have started and would 
like help and encouragement, it will pay you to send for "YOD and 
the Rainy. Day," a handsome booklet just issued by The National 
Bank of Commerce in St. Louis. 

It contains 28 pages of practical financial advice, telling how to save and 
make money. It also describes the 3% Certificates of Deposit of this 
$86,000,000.00 hank, which are issued in sums of from $50 up and are nego- 
tiable and renewable annually or semi-annually. 

Send today for your copy of this valuable free book- 

The National Bank of Commerce 

in St. Louis 
Broadway and Olive Street 

A Real Savings Ad for a National Bank. 



ago. Some of the advertisements in this interesting old publication 
are exact prototypes of the formal business card announcements 
used by many banks to-day, ostensibly for the purpose of getting 
more business. 

Some advertisers have not learned much in the past century 
of progress. Cold figures and bald statements, devoid of interest 



58 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

and life, are not the best thing in the world with which to touch 
human nature. 

So long as it is true that the great majority of us act upon 
feeling to a large extent it behooves the advertiser to mix as much 
human interest as possible with his logic in advertising. You make 
a very strong bid for business when you appeal both to the common 
sense and the impulses of your prospective customer. 

It is not meant to say that formal card announcements should 
never be used by banks. The use of such advertising in financial 
publications is not open to such serious criticism because there they 
are read largely by bankers who understand banking facilities and 
do not so much need the educating, personal style that ought to be 
addressed to the public at large. 

But appealing for general business is an entirely different prop- 
osition. For newspaper advertising, the stilted, official card an- 
nouncements of banks are well nigh useless because they are not 
business getters. 

That style of advertising is cold and austere. Like the massive 
stone walls and iron bars of the bank building itself, it is more 
repellent than attractive. Nevertheless, it is probable that some 
banks will be using that style of publicity a hundred years from 
now, but it won't be the same banks that are doing it to-day if they 
once learn the better way, for then they Mill find results so much 
better that they will never revert to that style. 

There is no better illustration of the card announcement style 
in bank advertising than the stereotyped form of newspaper adver- 
tising being done by the New York city savings banks. 
These advertisements are all cut from the same cloth. 
It would seem that if the purpose of this advertising was to get 
more depositors for the banks, the advertisers fell far short of 
their opportunities and wasted good money in expensive newspaper 
space. 

Of the ten advertisements reproduced, only one — that of a de- 
partment store private bank — makes a direct personal appeal for 
depositors, although several of the others do so by inference or 
implication. 

It is not for lack of talking points, either. One of the banks, 
the Bowery Savings Bank, is said to be the largest savings bank 
in the world. One states that it is paying its 177th semi-annual 
interest dividend, another its 109th. All of them are paying four per 



SAVINGS BANK ADVERTISING. 59 

cent, interest, which is higher by from % to 1 per cent, than is 
allowed by many savings banks throughout the country. 

There is no law that compels the New York savings banks to 
advertise in this perfunctory way. But even if it were com- 
pulsory, is there anything to prevent their doing some real adver- 
tising in addition? 



The Main Highway to 

Success Is the 

Savings Account 



Not one man in a thousand that 
ever gets/a start in Hie (unless he in- 
herits it) does so outside at the .beaten 
path, of tegular savings. It is the 
one safe sure way of getting on your 
feet Get. ahead a few hundred dol- 
lars. It will open /the way to better 
things. 

Let Your Savings Work Too. 



Des Moines Savings 
Bank 

Eight Millions, of Resources 
N. W. Corner West Fifth and Walnut 



The Right Idea. 



But perhaps they do not want any more deposits. 

By way of contrast, a real savings advertisement is shown. The 
interesting thing about it is that it is not the advertisement of a 
savings bank at all, but of one of the greatest of the national 
banks. In common witli the advertisement of the department store 
bank, it has a particularly strong feature psychologically — the offer 
of a free booklet and the request that the reader do something 
definite at once, viz., send for the booklet. 



60 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

BANKING BY MAIL. 

As banking-by-mail accounts are largely savings accounts a con- 
sideration of the advertising of that branch of banking logically 
comes in this chapter. 

Just as the growth of the "mail order" idea has broadened mar- 
kets in the general business fields the establishment and growth of 
the "banking-by-mail" plan has widened the circle of many a 
bank's usefulness and greatly increased its deposits and profits. 

There are several classes to which banking-by-mail can be made 
to appeal with special force: 

To those who live where there are no banking facilities at all. 

To those who live in places where banks either pay no interest 
at all on deposits or allow less interest than the banking-by-mail 
institution offers. 

To those who for any reason are dissatisfied with banking con- 
nections already established. 

While it is true that banking-by-mail has reached its highest 
development in cities where the banks are able to pay as high as 
four per cent, interest on savings accounts, there is no reason why 
banks that pay less than that can not successfully develop a busi- 
ness with out-of-town depositors who want to deal with a strong 
and safe institution even if it offers no higher rate of interest than 
the smaller institutions at home. 

A NEW IDEA. 

There are so few objections to the practice of dealing with a 
bank through the mails that it is a great wonder that the plan was 
not tried long ago. However, its great development in the past few 
years in the case of many banks, especially several well known ones 
in Cleveland, O., and Pittsburgh, Pa., indicates that the idea has 
become firmly established as a legitimate and practical feature of 
modern banking. 

The fact of particular interest about banking by mail, looked 
at from an advertising standpoint, is that the business is abso- 
lutely dependent upon advertising for its very existence. 

People must know about the bank before they will trust it and 
send their money to it. 

They must be told about it convincingly or they will not respond. 

So here is a department of banking created and maintained by 
advertising, and the extent of its development is in direct ratio to 
the quantity and quality of its advertising. m 



SAVINGS BANK ADVERTISING. 61 

Newspaper and magazine space costs so much that the typical 
banking-by-mail institution does not expect to get more than a 
comparatively small part of its business direct from the original 
advertisements. 

It is a "send for booklet" proposition pure and simple. 

The advertisement must be attractive enough and strong enough 
to get the inquir}^ the "follow up" must do the rest. 

TELLING THE WHOLE STORY. 

Space is needed to tell the full story of banking by mail — more 
space than it would pay to take in expensive mediums such as that 
in the magazines and "mail order" papers of large circulation. The 
booklet, circulars and form letters must be depended upon to give 
the subject the complete exposition it needs. 

Mail Your Savings 

to the Bowery Savings Bank, New York, and get all 
the benefits that are gained, by the 140,000 depositors 
of this greatest of all savings institutions. Depositing 
by mail in 

THE BOWERY SAYINGS BANK 

)s as safe as it is convenient. Our booklet, «• Banking 
by Mail," gives complete and detailed mfortaattQn, 
and will be sent free if you request it. 

THE BOWERY SAVINGS BANK, NEW YORK 

ESTABLISHED 1834. 

For Mail Deposits. 

The prime necessity naturally is to give inquirers ample ground 
for putting implicit confidence, in the institution's strength and the 
honorable intentions of the men back of it. 

In cases where as high a rate of interest as from four per cent. 
to six per cent, is paid, the advertising bank must explain pretty 
fully why and how it is able to pay such a high rate safely, because 
the great mass of people have long been taught to believe that un- 
usually high rates of interest are incompatible with safety. 

One way to do this is to explain how the bank invests its funds 
in great established industries in its home city or otherwise. 

As a rule, persons who send deposits by mail to a bank in a 
distant city are not thoroughly familiar witli business methods and 
arc especially ignorant of banking. One of the greatest require- 
ments in a good banking-by-mail booklet, therefore, is a very def- 



62 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

inite and complete statement of just what one has to do to open 
an account. 

The following excerpt from a particularly good booklet of this 
class will illustrate the right way to do this: 

1. Detach the slip attached to the back cover of this pamphlet — date 
and sign it, and mail it to us. This will give us a record of your authorized 
signature. 

2. Enclose with it your remittance — whatever amount you wish to 
deposit as a starter ($1.00 will do — no amounts received less than $1.00 
and no interest computed on fractions of a dollar) and we will promptly 
open an account with you, credit the amount received on our books and 
in the Depositors Pass Book which we return to you. 

3. The Pass Book serves as your receipt for amounts deposited — and 
is also a complete duplicate of your account with us — showing at any time 
just how you stand. 

4. Send us the Pass Book with the remittance, whenever you deposit. 
We return it to you. 

5. If you desire to draw out money — all you need do is to send us 
the Pass Book and say how much you want, on a conveniently printed form 
which we furnish for that purpose. If a portion of your account, we return 
the Pass Book with the withdrawal duly entered, showing how much you 
have left in the bank. If the whole amount on deposit is withdrawn we 
retain the Pass Book, as the account is closed. 

6. If the Pass Book is at any time lost, stolen or destroyed — notify us 
at once. 

HOW TO SEND MONEY BY MAIL. 

Send it in any shape most convenient to you — just as you would natur- 
ally remit to an out-of-town business house in making a purchase or pay- 
ing an obligation. 

By currency. 

By currency in registered Utter is more advisable, especially in 
amounts larger than $1.00 or $2.00. 

By P. O. Money Order. 

By Express Money Order. 

By your personal check. 

By check payable to yourself, received from a hay or grain buyer 
or other party. Endorse the check by simply writing your name across 
the back — which makes it negotiable. 

By draft, drawn by you in our favor — or 

By draft received by you in payment of an obligation from another 
party, and made payable to us bj' your endorsement. 

By postage (two-cent stamps, in sheets) for small amounts, when no 
other form of remittance is available or convenient. 

You can also send by express a large sum, received by you after 
banking hours, and which you do not wish to carry around with you. 

Or even by telegraph, in case you desire to deposit a sum in time to 
draw interest for the current month. 



SAVINGS BANK ADVERTISING. 63 

We have a special arrangement by which we are able to receive and 
cash checks on local banks in any section — at face value — making no deduc- 
tion for exchange fees. 

The slip referred to is arranged thus: 



People's Savings Bank & Trust Co. 
Savings Department. 

Below is my authorized signature, in which name I desire to open an 
account with you, in accordance with your rules and By-Laws. 



(Signature) 

Depositor 



(Address) 



As far as the main part of the copy for a banking-by-inail 
proposition is concerned, it is largely the same as should be used 
in the advertising of any savings bank, as outlined elsewhere in 
this book. 

SOME SAVINGS LITERATURE. 

As illustrating a line of argument for savings accounts used 
successfully in the author's experience, several advertisements are 
reproduced herewith and following are extracts from some of his 
savings booklets. 

From "You and the Rainy Day," written for the National Bark 
of Commerce in St. Louis: 

No matter who you are, where you are or how old you are, it is your 
duty to save money. 

Are you rich now? You may become poor if you don't save. 

Are you poor? You may become rich if you save; you will always 
remain poor if you don't. 

Without economy you can't be rich; with it you need not be poor. 

To have a surplus — capital in reserve — is simply throwing an anchor 
to windward. 

It will prevent your drifting on to the rocks of penury. 



64 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

If you already have capital, economy will preserve it for your use in 
times of greater need. If you have none you can acquire it by the same 
means. 

But you must have capital if you would get ahead financially. 
Youth is emphatically the time to begin to save, but it is never too 
late to start while your earning capacity is greater than the needs of 
yourself and those dependent upon you. 

But saving is a habit, and, like most habits of life, m the great 
majority of cases it must be acquired early if at all. 

"indeed, the main object of saving in early life, is not so much the 
actual amount saved, which may be very small, as it is the formation of 
the habit of economy. . 

It is an important moment when a young man or young woman begins 
to lay aside part of his or her earnings, because from that moment the 
person ceases to be a slavish dependent and becomes free, independent and 
self-reliant. 

Between the acres of thirty and forty the human machine is running 
most smoothly and powerfully" Difficulties which seem insuperable to the 
inexperience of youth or the over-caution of old age, are easily overcome 
by the energy, good judgment and courage of middle life. 

Perhaps" the knowledge that his best productive years are so short 
causes n man to realize 'the necessity of making the most of them while 
they last. 

' It ought to, at anv rate. 
How "is it with you? Have vou reached that period, and can you say 
to yourself, as you 'think of those dependent upon you, "I am doing my 
duty by them"? «.«..• 

' Or does a feeling of sadness come over you as you look at the laces 
around your breakfast table and think that you have not yet been able 
to provide adequately for the future of your loved ones? 

A man's duty to his family is not done when he provides for present 
necessities. He must also prepare for the future, which may be a time 
of storm and stress. 

If in the years gone by you have saved money and invested it wisely, 
you can approach middle life and declining powers without worry even if 
your income has never been a large one. 

Just when you are about to lay down the severest burden of work, your 
judiciously invested funds take it up for you and from that time on you 
do less work and your capital does more. 

It is better to sacrifice a little now than to want much later. 
There are some who affect to disregard material wealth. 
There is neither Gospel nor common sense in doing that, for while 
the love of money may be the cause of much evil, the lack of it is the cause 
of more. 

You are giving yourself and others a square deal when you save money 
and invest it so as to bring a good return with safety of principal. 

A reserve fund can not be created in a day, but is the accumulation 
of years of hard work and self-denial. 

* Without capital in reserve, hard times or individual misfortune will mean 
disaster to vou fmanciallv. It may be hard for you to live within your 
income. It "will be harder to live without it. With money saved and 



SAVINGS BANK ADVERTISING. 



65 



invested funds, you need not be without income even if your regular source 
gives out. 

You are hurrying prosperity away from you if you neglect to provide 
now in these good times for future necessities. 

And at the same time adversity is humming down the track toward 
you at the rate of sixty miles an hour, and ahead of time. 

Economy will switch it off, and it's not too late if you heed the 
danger signal. 

"Not everyone can be rich, or wants to be. But everyone can be 
thrifty, if he will, which is better. A common conception of thrift in this 



=£)© 




Your Child's Future 



A SAVINGS ACCOUNT opened when your 
children are young will provide for their edu- 
cation and give them a proper Start in life. 
You can open an account with this large safe bank with 



ONE DOLLAR *"" UPWARDS ' 



AND IT WILL EARN 



4% INTEREST 



cA BIRTHDAY FUND 

<JAn excellent means of providing a son or daughter with an inheritance when they 
' to their credit with thj» bank the turn 
ved. These sums, with intereft, will 

- „ over $300.00, not an insignificant sum in itself; and 

molt children, knowing that a bank account was growing for them, will make con- 
tinuous efforts to add to the amounts of their savings, thus swelling the aggregate, 
which would enable any young man or woman to Start out in a business career, well 
equipped for success. 



The Citizens Savings <& Trust Co. 

Euclid Ave. near Erie St., CLEVELAND, OHIO 

THIRTY- NINE 3 mTlLION DOLLARS 



An Attractive Mailing Card. 



country is putting something away occasionally. But spasmodic saving 
accomplishes little. 

The habit of putting money away methodically has a double value. The 
money accumulated is. of course, a valuable resource, but the good quali- 
ties of head and heart and hand developed are worth as much for success 
as the money itself. 

Then there is another advantage in saving money. It helps cut out the 
worry that hinders you from doing your best work. For there is a worry 
that will undermine your strength if you glance around your home circle 
and realize that you* have not saved a cent against the day when your 
loved ones may be left without the income that you are spending so lavishly 
now. 

5 



A Christmas Assurance 

You will hardly miss the small amount ($34.20 year- 
ly) that is the cost of a Colonial Endowment Con- 
tract which p'taranfivs $1,000 at the expiration of 20 
years— the same iMiitract is available in periods of 5, 
JO and 15 years. This contract is a discipline creating 
an obligation to save, and showing a round figure of 
profit at its expiration. 

ASK FOR BOOKLET A. 

The (olpnialTrvst (ompany 

317 FOURTH AVE.-314-318 DIAMOJ> 1 * > 'T>T. 

Capital 
$4,000,000.00 



For the Baby 






I^et one of the baby's 

be the opening of an ac^ 

this, strong savings institution. The habit 

of thrift should be taught to all children, and 
the best tvay of teaching anything is by example. It 
means a great deal to a child for the future, not only in 
actual amount of money accumulated during the year9 of 
childhood, but in the a.niuu-ement of the knowledge of 
money's — ■ ■•-'— ■- ~>" 




Some Christmas Savings Bank Advertising. 



SAVINGS BANK ADVERTISING. 67 

If you are not saving money and the reading of this book makes you 
discontented with your financial condition and leads you to strive earnestly 
to better it, then it will not have been written in vain. 

From "A Rich Man's Advice/' written for the Missouri-Lincoln 
Trust Company, St. Louis, Mo.: 

John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in the world, says: 

"The American people are prodigal and our extravagance will have 
to be paid for by some one. People are taking advantage of prosperity, such 
as has never been excelled in this country, to be wasteful and extravagant. 
We are not saving up for the rainy day, for the time of need. How can 
one be ready for the glorious opportunities ahead of him unless he has 
cultivated the habits of economy and prudence? He must save all he can, 
in season and out of season." 

Perhaps you do not need the words of this successful man to make 
j'ou realize the importance of saving money now. Probably you feel that 
it is better to sacrifice a little now, if necessary, than to spend all and want 
iater on. But, and this is the important thing for you to. consider, do you 
realize how important it is to save the small amounts? 

Not a few persons have a very good intention to save, but keep putting 
off the start until they "can save something worth while." 

If you are one of those persons, consider this: 

There are 365 days in the year. Take out 53 Sundays, and it will leave 
313 working days in a year. Now, if each working day you save small 
sums (from 5 cents to $2.00) and deposit the money regularly in the Sav- 
ings Department of the Missouri-Lincoln Trust Company and leave it there 
to draw 3 per cent, compound interest, at the end of five years you will 
have to your credit the sums indicated in the table below: 



Daily 


Amount 


Interest 


Total Ami, 


Saving. 


Deposited. 


Earned. 


Five Years. 


$0.05 


$ 78.25 


$ 5.50 


$ 83.75 


.10 


156.50 


11.00 


167.50 


.15 


234.75 


16.50 


251.25 


.20 


313.00 


22.00 


335.00 


.25 


391.25 


27.50 


418.75 


.30 


469.50 


33.00 


502.50 


.40 


636.00 


44.00 


670.00 


.50 


782.50 


55.00 


837.50 


.75 


1,173.75 


82.50 


1,256.25 


1.00 


1,565.00 


110.00 


1,675.00 


1.25 


1,956.25 


137.50 


2,093.75 


1.50 


3,317.50 


165.00 


2,512.50 


1.75 


2,738.75 


192.50 


2,931.25 


2.00 


3,130.00 


230.00 


3,350.00 


iosc you 


had begun five years 


ago to save 


Hie small amounts which 


been s 


pending foolishly all 


these years. 


Those savings and the 



you have 

interest earned would have made you much belter off than you are now. 
Besides, you would have developed a habit of thrift and carefulness which 
in itself would be worth a fortune to you. 



C8 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

But the mill will never grind with water that is past. Regrets are 
vain. The thing; to do is to decide now to begin to save systematically even 

the small amounts. Then five years from now will find you much nearer 
Die accomplishment of your ambitions than you are to-day. For the great 
majority of us there is no safer or surer way to financial success than 
persistent, systematic saving, and the best aid in that direction is a savings 
account in a reliable institution like the $12,000,000 Missouri-Lincoln Trust 
Company. 

The start is the hardest thing. Once you have opened an account and 
have experienced the pleasure of seeing the figures in your pass-book indi- 
cate a steadily increasing balance, aided by the semi-annual interest credits, 
it is comparatively easy for you to continue the good work. 

In order to make it as easy as possible for you to open a savings 
account with this great institution — the oldest of its kind in Missouri and 
one of the strongest in the United States — there is printed herewith a coupon 
in the form of a deposit slip. Sit right down now while this subject is 
fresh in your mind and fill it out. even if you have no more than $1.00 to 
deposit. 

Then bring the slip with your deposit to the bank (or, if more con- 
venient, mail it). Your name will be entered upon our books and you will 
be given a pass-book. 

Then you will be fairly started on that road to prosperity which has 
been trod by thousands of successful men and women everywhere. 

Take the first step now. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Trust Company Advertising. 

THE business of a trust company is of such a nature that it 
can be promoted with certainty by the right kind of pub- 
licity. 

And competition is now so active that the trust company must 
advertise even as a means of self-preservation, to say nothing of 
pushing its business. 

Owing to the great variety of services that it has to offer the 
public, the trust company has a broad field to work in and a 
strong and vitally interesting advertising story to tell. 

Because of the nature of the services such institutions render, 
there is great need of the strongest kind of confidence-inspiring copy 
in their advertising. 

Trust companies are fiduciary institutions. They ask people to 
trust them not merely with large or small sums of money left on 
deposit and subject to check, but they also seek the confidence of 
the public in the most intimate relations of business life, in the care 
of estates and in carrying out the sacred provisions of the last will 
and testament. 

In short, the trust company solicits not only the grave responsi- 
bility of the custody of money not its own, but it offers in some 
cases to assume entire charge of the temporal affairs of dependents 
and others who cannot or do not care to look after their interests 
in person. 

It is no light thing this that the trust company takes upon 
itself and it cannot present too strong proof of its worthiness to 
undertake such responsibility. When, on account of disability, or 
for some other reason, a man finds it impossible to manage his 
important interests properly and thus protect those whose happi- 
ness depends upon the wisdom with which those interests are hand- 
led, he wants assurance amounting to certainty that the trust com- 
pany offering its services for the work can be entrusted safely with 
the care of the property and that, moreover, his own wishes will 
be carried out conscientiously and prudently. 

It is a noticeable fact that in a very large majority of cases the 
most successful trust companies in different communities arc those 
that do the most and the best advertising i n their field. 



TO PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

What has been said elsewhere in this book about the importance 
of strong, informative, humanly interesting advertising copy applies 
with equal force in the case of trust company publicity. If there 
is one point more than another that should be emphasized, it is 

More than the entire cost of 
administration has been saved 

to estates because of their careful handling 
by the Commonwealth Trust Company. 

On the other hand, many estates have .been 
dissipated by the carelessness, incompetence, 
incapacity or dishonesty of individual executors. 
You can insure your estate against this risk by 
appointing this Trust Company your executor. 

Having no personal interest in the matter, a 
reliable, experienced, well- organized 
corporation like this administers its trust 
impartially. In every way its services are 
more satisfactory than those of an individual 
executor, although they cost no more. Mr. 
W. V. Delahunt, Trust Officer, will explain 
this to you if you write or call. 

This company operates under stringent legal 
safeguards, and has Capital, Surplus and 
Undivided Profits of almost $6,000,000.. 

Commonwealth Trust Company 

Broadway and Olive Street 
For Fiduciary Service. 



the special need there is that the trust company inspire popular 
confidence. Tn order to do this successfully, all the changes must 
be rung ably and persistently on such advertising assets as: Age, 
financial strength, personnel of management, extensive clientele, 
state supervision, examinations, and many other such "talking 
points" as are suggested at the end of this chapter. 



TRUST COMPANY ADVERTISING. 71 

EXPLAINING THE SERVICES OFFERED. 

Perhaps also the neeessity for educational advertising is par- 
ticularly apparent in the case of trust companies, because these 
institutions are comparatively new and their functions are not so 
well understood by the public generally as are those of the banks. 

A campaign of education along this line, conducted with intelli- 
gence and skilly ought to be very fruitful for any progressive trust 
company. The opportunity to do some really strong, result-getting 
advertising in this direction is immense but only a comparatively 
few institutions in the country are making the most of it. 

Flere is the way it can be done. Plan a complete series of 
newspaper advertisements, street car cards, and a "follow up" sys- 
tem consisting both of booklets and form letters. 

Don't try to tell your whole advertising story in one ad. or in 
one booklet. Tell your advertising story in small chapters, but 
keep it up regularly and people will soon look for it and be disap- 
pointed if they don't get it. 

Make each advertisement take up a new subject or treat an old 
topic in a new way. 

In your newspaper advertising try to keep the same position 
in the papers you use and maintain the same general style of typog- 
raphy, but CHANGE THE COPY and fill your space with strong, 
instructive, action-compelling stuff. 

If you are an officer of your company and have, not the time or 
training to enable you to do this most effectively yourself, get some- 
body who can "deliver" this kind of "goods." 

The money you pay him for his services will not be an expense, 
but an extremely good investment. 

A good many trust companies have a savings department, and 
others either now have a banking-by-mail department or are con- 
sidering the advisability of soliciting accounts by mail. Sugges- 
tions on the advertising of these important branches are given else- 
where in this book. It need only be added here that, while the 
advertising literature for these two classes of business must be 
strong and convincing, the appeals for deposits must not be so 
frantic that the reader may draw the conclusion that the institution 
is terribly in need of the money. 

Strive to convey the idea in your advertisements that you are 
conferring the favor, and so emphasize the advantages that will 
accrue to the prospective depositor from his connection with your 



72 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

institution that lie will not get the unfavorable impression that you 
are grinding your own axe too much. 

Make your advertising positive, not negative; constructive, not 
destructive, and always remember Shakepeare's good advice about 
being bold, but not too bold and that it is possible to "protest too 
much." 

WOMEN'S ACCOUNTS. 

Trust companies are especially well equipped to handle women's 
accounts, and practically every big trust company has a Women's 
Department, managed by a woman or with female assistants. 

The great talking points in advertising such a department arc- 
that it makes banking pleasant and easy for women and that it is 
convenient and economical for women to have a checking account 
and pay bills by check. 

Convenience to the shopping district, comfortable rest rooms and 
the relief from financial worry are also very strong features of the 
service that an up-to-date trust company can offer its women cus- 
tomers and should emphasize in its advertising. 

While it is wise to plan a complete advertising campaign in ad- 
vance and to have an appropriation set aside sufficient to cover the 
expense of it, the amount should not be figured down so close in 
advance that there would be nothing available for special occasions 
or emergencies, so to speak. 

In his criticism in the January, 1908, "Bankers Magazine" of 
the advertisement reproduced on the opposite page, the author said: 

"The full-page magazine advertisement of the Union Trust 
Company, of Pittsburgh, copied in reduced size, is one of the most 
striking financial announcements we have seen in some time, and is 
certain to cause discussion in financial and advertising circles. 

"The idea conveyed by the lion and the massive chain border of 
the design, is, of course, that of strength, and the design and the 
copy are appropriately tied up by the reference to the institution's 
stability. 

"There is only one question that arises in this connection and on 
this point we would like the opinion of the man who wrote this 
advertisement and of other advertisers. Would it not have been 
better to display the name of the company further down in the ad. 
and to use the top line display for an eye catcher and a link between 
the design and the copv ? For example, something like this — OUR 
STRENGTH IS YOUR PROTECTION. 



THE UNION 



TRUST COMPANY 

OF PITTSBURGH 

With a capital of $1,500,000, and surplus of $23,000,000 
this institution ranks easily first among the strong trust 
companies of the world. 

It conducts a conservative business along the following 
lines : 

(1) TRUST DEPT.— Transacts a general financial and trust company business. 

Acts, under authority ol the law. as executor, administrator, trustee, etc. 

(2) BOND DEPT.— Buys and sells high grade Investment securities ; bond list 

on application. 
(3; FINANCIAL DEPT.— Allows Interest on deposits ol Individuals, firms and 
corporations. 

(4) REAL ESTATE DEPT.— Manages, buys, sells, rents and appraises Pittsburgh 

city real estate. 

(5) SAFE DEPOSIT DEPT.— Rents sale deposit boxes In lire, burglar and moth 

prool vault. 
Stores, at special rates, silverware, etc. 

Correspondence on any of these subjects 
will receive prompt and careful attention 

OFFICERS 
H. C. McELDOWNEV, President 
A. W. MELLON, Vice-President H. W. GLEFFER, Treasurer 

J. M. SCHOONMAKER, 2d - Vice-President SCOTT HAYES, Secretary 



DIRECTORS 



H. O. FRTCK. 
P. C. KNOX, 

— N. FREW. 



H. O. FOWNES, 

R. B. MELLON, 

H. C. MeELDOWNEY, 

J. M. SCFTOOiWAKRR. 

WM. B, SCHILLER, 



B. P. JONES. Jr. 
JAMES H. LOCKHART, 
C. EDUCE I. WHITNEY, 
E. C. CONVERSE. 
A. W. MELLON, 



GEO. E. SHAW, 
J. M. LOCKHART. 
HENRY PHIPPS, 

THOMAS MORRISON", 
WILLIAM Q. PARK. 



A Strong Advertisement. 



71 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

"The argument in favor of giving the major display to the name 
of the company probably is to get as much general publicity for 
the institution as possible, but is it not likely that just as much 
general publicity will come from the steady use of a distinctive 
typographical style and of bright, convincing copy, the whole stand- 
ing as much for the institution as if the entire space were taken up 
with its name in the boldest type? 

"The advantage of the idea we suggest is that it not only in- 
sures the same amount of general publicity value to the advertiser, 



Safety for Securities 

Considering the low cost and the perfect 
security of a box in a modern safe deposit 
vault, it is unwise to keep securities, insurance 
policies, savings bank books, deeds and other 
valuables in a house or office safe. The safe 
deposit vault does what no amount of insur- 
ance can do, — it actually prevents valuables 
from being burned or stolen. 
Boxes may be rented at either office. 

0lh Colonp €r«st Co. 

Main Office i . . - «. u . I Branch Office 

Ame, Builds I Largest .n Massachusetts 



A Well Balanced Ad. 



but, in addition, gives opportunity to emphasize some particular 
feature of the service the institution offers the public and serves to 
clinch the point made by the design, even in the mind of the hasty 
reader. 

"These seemingly minor points about advertising are important, 
because, after all, it is the aggregate of little things that makes the 
big things, and the advertiser should overlook no detail that might 
add to the effectiveness of his publicity." 

Following are some advertisements prepared by the author for 
the savings department of the Missouri-Lincoln Trust Company of 
St. Louis 3 Mo.: 



TRUST COMPANY ADVERTISING. 75 

Careful saving and careful spending go hand-in-hand. They make 
wise investment possible and lead to financial success. Let your savings 
earn 3 per cent, compound interest here. Send for free home bank. 



A little self-denial now is better than dependence in your declining 
years. Save now and be independent then. 

We pay 3 per cent, compound interest on savings accounts. Ask for 
free home bank. 



You will be better fitted for your daily work if your mind is at ease 
about the future. Save part of your income and deposit it with this strong 
company to draw 3 per cent, interest, compounded semi-annually. 



Your money grows when planted with us. Two per cent, on your 
checking account or 3 per cent, on a savings account will mean a good 
deal to you in the course of a year. 



As a rule, financial independence cannot be secured by most of us 
except by saving. 

Your savings deposited with this company will earn 3 per cent, com- 
pound interest. Send for free home bank. 



Set interest at work for you by depositing your surplus funds with 
this Company. Three per cent, interest w r ill pay many of your incidental 
expenses and your principal will be in safe keeping. Call for free home 
bank. 

SUBJECTS FOR ADVERTISEMENTS. 

Good talking points for trust company advertising are suggested 
below. The idea is not to use just these phrases in advertisements, 
but they indicate topics that can be profitably developed in trust 
company advertising, each idea making the text for an advertise- 
ment. 

Personnel of management. 

Capital, surplus and reserve. 

Directors that direct. 

Carefulness in loans and investments. 

State supervision. ' 

Registry of bonds and stocks. 

Transfer and fiscal agent. 

Personal supervision by officers. 

Investment department, bonds, etc., for trust funds. 

Handling real estate, paying and collecting rent. 

Paying taxes, insurance, etc. 



PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

Auditing and regular examinations. 

Employees handling securities are bonded. 

Modern and complete office equipment. 

Free advice of officers. 

Making and carrying out provisions of wills. 

Promptness, fidelity, courtesy. 

Collections on all points promptly and cheaply made. 

Quality of assets, doubtful paper charged off. 

Interest on time deposits and checking accounts. 

Executor, administrator, trustee, guardian, assignee, receiver. 

Interest on daily balances. 



Two Bank Accounts 

Many people, especially those who 
reside out of town, find it conven- 
ient to have two bank accounts. 
The opening of an account with 
the Old Colony Trust Company 
does not necessarily terminate the 
depositor's connection with other 
banking institutions. Interviews 
invited. 

®fo Colon? &ruat Co. 

Main Office f~. \. "J." " '. " ~~~1 Branch Office 

a™. B..iMi„„ Largest .n Massachusetts T p 



A Good Point. 

Agent and attorney in fact of inexperienced persons and of benevo- 
lent and religious institutions and orders. 

Agent and attorney for non-residents. 

Depository for fiduciary officers. 

Liberality, accuracy, stability. 

Comparative statement of growth of institution. 

Send for free booklet. 

Giving information to the public. 

Legal depository for trust funds. 

Discounting business notes. 

Safe deposit department. 

Making audits for corporations, municipalities, institutions and indi- 
viduals. 



TRUST COMPANY ADVERTISING. 

Trustee under mortgage securing- bonds. 

Making loans to depositors. 

Banking by mail. 

Handling conservative and meritorious construction enterprises. 







Trust Department 

After spending your life accumulating property, be 
as careful in selecting an executor as though choosing 
a manager of your business. 

The Union Trust Company has a perpetual charter, 
will accept the trust if appointed as executor of your 
estate, and will retain possession of your property 
until every provision of your will it executed. 

It is organized primarily for this purpose and has 
the time and ability to attend to the details of such 
work. 

Its management guarantees the faithful discharge 
of all trusts committed to it. 

Trust Company 

of Spokane 

OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS 

W. J. C Wakefield Jas. C Cunningham 

President Vice President 

D. C Corbin T. J. Humbird 

Peter Larson Geo. S. Brooke 

James Monaghan R. B. Paterson 
John A. Finch Fred B. Grinnell 

J. P. McGoIdrick 



78 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

As much attention to small as to large accounts. 
Trust funds kept separate. 
Guaranteeing real estate titles. 
Handling fraternal and secret society finances. 
Total amount of interest paid in history of company. 
Trust company does not die, go insane or otherwise become incapaci- 
tated. Other advantages of corporation over an individual. 
Large reserve in cash on hand and in banks. 
Clearing-house arrangements. 
Detailed report to banking department. 
Inquiries about assets, management and policy welcome. 
Company independent of control of any single interest. 
Depository for state, city, court and trust funds. 
Tell all about checks. 

Tell about physical safety (from fire, burglary, etc.). 
Property in escrow. 
Let us be your bookkeeper. 
Women's department. 

Checking accounts for women (convenience, safety, etc.). 
Distributing incomes. 

Investing trust funds for widows and orphans. 
Interested in welfare of customers. 

Convenience of location and facilities in banking quarters. 
Correspondent banks and collection facilities. 
Facts about industries and geographical advantages of community. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Investment Advertising. 

TO be most successful, investment advertising requires : 
Expert acquaintance with all the facts relating to the 
investments offered; 

Thorough knowledge of human nature; and 

Consummate literary skill — the power of expression and the 
ability to handle words as tools. 

The character of the investment, and the strength, organization 
and prestige of the house offering it are important. But, these 
things being equal, the house that does the best advertising will do 
the most business. 

This has been proved so conclusively by actual results that it 
may be accepted as an established fact. 

It is equally axiomatic that the old-fashioned card announcement 
style of advertising will not bring results, especially in competition 
with modern advertising methods which are gradually being intro- 
duced by investment advertisers. 

Writing investment copy is particularly hard because the exig- 
encies of the case require that the advertiser ask the reader to turn 
over to him a portion of his hard-earned, or, at least, much cher- 
ished, money, possibly without giving anything immediately tangi- 
ble in return. 

The obvious course for the investment advertiser, then, is to 
work to inspire two things in the mind of the prospective investor, 
viz., a strong belief that it will be to his advantage to make the 
proposed investment, and the utmost confidence in the one offering 
the investment. 

The first step is to make it very clear to the man with money 
to invest that when he invests wisely he does not part with his 
money, but merely puts it where it will work and earn for its owner. 

APPEAL TO SELF-INTEREST. 

Arguments appealing to the self-interest of the prospective in- 
vestor are: 

Large and sure profits being made by others in similar investments. 

Preparing for old age and financial independence. 



80 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

Regular income without work. 

Freedom from worry about the present and anxiety about the future. 

Actual figures of earnings from the investment in a certain period. 

Confidence-inspiring arguments include: 

Statement of the financial strength, the age, experience and high 
standing of the house offering the investment. 

References and testimonial letters from prominent business men and 
satisfied customers and clients of the house. 

Statistics, official figures and affidavits concerning the earning capacity 
of the investment. 

It is sometimes a logical thing for the individual investment 
advertiser to use his portrait in his advertising, as people like to 
know what manner of man is asking them to trust him. 

A study of logic, psychology, legal rules of evidence and the 
principles of argumentation and debate is not a bad idea for the 
investment advertiser who wants to get right down to fundamentals 
and appeal for business scientifically. But, of course, advertising 
arguments must be clothed in an interesting dress, free from the 
heaviness and dryness of legal or scientific phraseology. 

Make use of the truths of pure reason and exact science as far 
as possible, but keep as far away from that kind of terminology as 
possible. For example, while it is all right to arrange an advertise- 
ment or a circular in logical order and make the copy lead inevitably 
to the conclusion you desire to be drawn, it would be folly to make 
a regular sjdlogism, with Major and Minor Premise and Conclusion. 

It is too bad that while bucket-shops and illegitimate invest- 
ment concerns are free to advertise as much and as strongly as 
they please, restricted only by the publishers who censor their copy 
to some extent, the legitimate broker on any of the large stock 
exchanges has his hands tied when it comes to promoting legitimate 
trading through up-to-date advertising methods. 

STOCK BROKERS' PUBLICITY. 

The New York Stock Exchange does not permit its members to 
advertise in any way except by means of a formal business card. 

Educational advertising is frowned upon, whereas there is no 
doubt but that if people at large could be taught more about the 
true workings of the exchanges there would be less of a field for 
the operations of illegitimate investment advertisers. 

It seems to be a case of the get-rich-quick schemers having 
"stolen the livery of Heaven to serve the devil in/' because if any- 



INVESTMENT ADVERTISING. 81 

one is entitled to use the strongest and most scientific advertising 
arguments it certainly is the man who has a conservative, high-class 
investment security to sell. 

BONDS 

Surplus funds can 
Jbe most safely invested 
in' Municipal. Rail- 
road and Public Ser- 
vice Corporation 
Bonds. 

Investments of this 
kind yield the highest 
income consistent 
with absolute security 
of principal, and we 
refer you to our July 
circular (which- can 
be obtained upon ap- 
plication) for a varied 
and well selected list 
of bonds of this char- 
acter, in denomina- 
tions of $100, $500 
and $1,000. 

EH Rollins & Sons 

<OrganUed 1876) 

238 La Salle St.. CHICAGO 
Boston Denver San Francisco 

Simple and Strong. 

That a new day is at hand in this field of advertising is proved 
by the following extracts from the author's "Banking Publicity" 
Department of "The Bankers Magazine": 

A NEW IDEA TX BOND ADVERTISING. 

Considerable interest is being manifested in the present-day publicity 
of some of the bond houses. One has only to contrast the bond advertising 
situation of to-day with that of a few years ago to recognize the step for- 



S3 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

ward that has been taken, particularly in the line of advertising by some 
of the leading bond houses in the high-class general magazines. 

This did not attract particular attention at first, as it was thought to 
be merely an experiment on the part of one or two of the more progres- 
sive houses. But it is now evident that "a new idea" has been injected 
into bond advertising and one which, in fact, promises to be one of the 
most important developments in the history of financial advertising. 

While for years some houses have published an occasional advertise- 
ment in one of the popular magazines, this "new idea" now appears to 
have been adopted by a number of banks, trust companies and bond dealers. 

One of the first to enter the magazine pages in a definite way, and as a 
pioneer in the new style of vigorous, informative advertisements, was the 
firm of Messrs. N. W. Halsey & Co. This house has many times given 
evidence that it was progressive as well as conservative. The firm is a 
careful student of modern publicity. When it began to place its advertis- 
ing in the high-class magazines it evidently did so in pursuance of a well- 
defined plan. That its "idea" was well conceived and carefully executed 
is indicated by an examination of the financial advertising pages of the 
"World's Work," wherein will be found announcements of several bond 
houses which have been awakened to the possibilities of the general maga- 
zine field. One of the most interesting features revealed by this examina- 
tion is the evidence that each house has a plan of its own. But practically 
all adhere to one feature which is undoubtedly the keynote of successful 
bond advertising in the magazines to-day, i. e., educational copy. It is 
certainly refreshing to see bond houses get away from the "ethical card" 
and inject a combination of "news-educational and human-interest-value" 
into their copy. Each house gets at this result in a different way. Two 
or three seem to have a more definite plan than the others. But they are 
all turning out copy which gives evidence of careful preparation. Right 
there is the vital point. If the bond houses are actually giving the sub- 
ject of advertising the same expert attention that they give other depart- 
ments of their business, then a new era in financial advertising has started 
indeed. Standing for all that is conservative and sane in the disposition 
of surplus funds, they have it in their power, through the instrumentality 
of advertising that interests and educates the average man, to wield a tre- 
mendous influence for good in the homes of the country. 

The advertisements of these houses are attractive, easily read, and 
thoroughly dignified. They prove interesting as well as instructive to the 
experienced investor, no less than to those who are inexperienced in this 
line. While adhering to uniform typography, each is different in appear- 
ance and text. The dominant purpose is to inform the reader as to the 
merits of the different classes of securities in which the firm deals and the 
character of the service rendered to clients. Yet, underlying all, is an 
intangible something which inspires confidence, reflecting, as it were, the 
very character, or composite personality, of the house itself. 

Bond advertising on these lines is certainly a "new idea," yet it does 
not in the least detract from the dignity of the house, and is a welcome 
departure, and one that the investing public undoubtedly appreciates. 

Upon further examination of some of the magazines, notably "Suc- 
cess," "World's Work" and the "Saturday Evening Post," elementary "con- 
servative investment" articles on educational lines are found. The 



INVESTMENT ADVERTISING. 



83 



magazines also invite correspondence from subscribers seeking informa- 
tion regarding sound investments. While these articles have no relation 
to the financial advertising carried, yet they are an indirect result of it. 
In other words, upon the entrance of one, two or three of the large bond 
houses into the magazine advertising pages, the publishers of the maga- 
zines were attracted by the importance of the copy and commenced to 
study investments. "World's Work" originally, and later the ether two, 
became so impressed with the importance of the subject that they 
decided to run a series of elementary articles intended to inform their 



Municipal 
Bonds 



Such col 



i which must be met or 
d by the municipality, 
e only remotely affected 



by periods 

the rights of municipal bond holders have 

preferred by many careful investors. 

We offer a variety of carefully selected 

3%% to -£%% 

BANKERS 

NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA 
CHICACO SAN FRANCISCO 



Purchasing 
Municipal Bonds 

-Permanent Investment 



W 



> purchase 



as in the case of other foi 

It is well, therelore, 
through responsible deal< 
proper facilities for expert investiga- 
tions, successful experience upon 
which to base their judgment, and a 

recommendations. 

We buy entire issues of Municipal 
Bonds direct from the various Munic- 
ipalilies, and distribute to institutional 
and individual investors at net prices. 

At present we own and offer a 
variety of Municipal Bonds from 
Massachusetts to California, yielding 

ZVat to 4^ per cent. 



Government, Municipal, Railroad 
and Public Utility Bonds, bought, 
sold and appraised. 



N.W.HALSEY&CO. 

BANKERS 

NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA 
CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO 



Safety 

Seasoned Railroad 

Bonds 



SEASONED Railroad Bonds are mort- 
railroad pr operbei which have demon- 
strated, over • period of yean, a steady earn- 
ing power sufficient to pay all operating and 
interest charges, dividend) on stock, and 
leave a substantial surplus. 

Such bonds are secured by pledge of 
valuable property, often impossible of re- 
placement, the markei value of which .safe- 
road bonds that a broad market has been 



:r Mf soiled railroad 



3% to 4%% 



Government, Municipal, Railroad 
and Public Utility Bonds, bought, 
sold and appraised. 



N.W.HALSEY&CO. 

BANKERS 

NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA 

49 W.ll Strt.l R~l E..., Tn* Bddin, 
CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO 



Convertibility 
Seasoned Railroad 

Bonds 



B 



jONDS of this class are secured by 

-tors against loss of principal. 
[any of the' issues, by legislative enact- 
; of different Stales, have been made a 
investment for Savings Bank and 
* funds.' 
nng in negotiable form and representing 

readily loaned upon by. financial msbtu- 

s many investors, both individual and in- 
ional, own seasoned Railroad Bonds 












We own and offer seasoned railroad bonds 
nd convertibility — to yield from 

3% to ^% % 

Send for circular "C" 



Government, Municipal, Railroad 
and Public Utility Bonds; bought, 



N.W.HALSEY&CO. 

BANKERS 

NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA 
CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO 



This Illustrates the New Idea. 



readers as to the principles of sound investment with a view to rendering 
the public a distinct service in the conserving of surplus funds. One of 
the principal objects was to warn their readers against the wild-cat schemes 
advertised by dishonest and unsuccessful promoters which have appeared in 
such sreat volume is some of the public prints during the past five years. 
The high-class magazines have a large circulation and a powerful 
influence in the homes of the country, and are therefore in a position to 
do a great deal of good in educating people so that they will be able to 
discriminate between speculation and sound investments. The value of 
the service these magazines have rendered has been made apparent by the 
many letters the publishers have receivd from these subscribers on the 



84 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

subject. The majority of these letters have shown an appalling ignorance 
of the principles of sound investment, yet they were apparently from men 
who desire to surround their investments with safety. 



TELLING ABOUT INVESTMENTS. 

Both the magazine publishers and the bond houses fire rendering a 
valuable service to the public in spreading information as to the nature 
of sound investments, and it is hoped they will continue their etiorts, for 
something should be done by high-grade publications reaching the general 
public to point out the value of safe investments as against the purchase 
of stocks of the '•get-rich-quick" variety. 

Another direct benefit of the bond advertising in the magazines has 
been the salutary effect it is having on the advertising departments of the 
magazines. The volume of questionable financial advertising in the good 
magazines is to-day less than for several years, and as the publishers 
continue more clearly to recognize their opportunity and their obligations 
to their subscribers, it may be expected that all objectionable financial 
advertising will be eliminated. 

The "new idea" has had a far-reaching effect already and the financial 
interests of the country owe thanks to the progressive bond houses that 
inaugurated it. 

"The Bankers Magazine" unqualifiedly endorses the "new idea" in 
bond advertising and, as previously suggested, believes it to be of direct 
benefit to the entire field of high-grade investment securities as well as 
to all banks and financial institutions. Enormous sums have been lost 
during the recent past by men and women throughout the land through 
ignorance of the true principles of investment. The only way apparently to 
protect these people is to educate them on the subject. This will serve to 
restrain savings and other bank depositors from making hasty withdrawals 
for the purpose of "investing" in something that will probably result in a 
loss of their savings. At the same time, by the dissemination of sound 
information respecting investments by the leading banks and bond houses, 
the wealthier investors are also led to favor banks, etc., when seeking 
investments, thus materially broadening the field for the sale of such 
securities. 

Every year an enormous amount of money is sunk in speculation and 
unsound investments, and this money is supplied to a large extent by 
those least able to afford its loss. For the person who has not accumu- 
lated a considerable surplus the only wise course is to save and entrust 
his savings to a well-managed bank or trust company. When a sufficient 
fund has been accunndated to justify the savor to become an investor, 
he should, especially at the beginning, invest only after consulting with 
his banker or through a bond house of recognized standing. 

To bankers this is elementary, but the public is still largely ignorant 
of this simple rule. Advertising of the character above discussed, presented 
in mediums having a large general circulation, will exercise a powerful 
influence in acquainting people with it, thereby diverting a large stream of 
money annually flowing into the coffers of. speculators and promoters of 
doubtful enterprises and turning it into legitimate investment channels. 



INVESTMENT ADVERTISING. 8.5 

What is a Bond? 

A good bond is the safest form of 
investment and is absolutely non-spec- 
ulative. 

It guarantees payment of a definite 
sum at a certain time and a fixed inter- 
est per annum. 

It does not pay as high interest as 
many good industrial stock investments, 
but it offers greater security. 

A concern cannot pay dividends on its 
stock unless it earns them. Nothing can 
be absolutely guaranteed in advance. 

A concern, must pay the interest on 
bonds that are secured by a mortgage 
against its property. 

If the interest is not forthcoming, the 
mortgage is foreclosed and the property 
taken by the bondholders. 

The Best Class of Bonds 

The safest bonds are those issued by 
.municipalities, railroads, public service 
corporations and the larger industrial 
corporations. 

Care should always be taken that the 
property bonded is more valuable than 
the bond-issue that stands against it and 
that its earning capacity is greater than 
the interest on the bond issue. 

Municipal, railroad, water, gas, tele- 
phone and electric bonds are nearly al- 
ways good. 

These bonds will pay from 4 per cent, 
to 5 1-2 per cent, interest, and with rea- 
sonable care in the selection, will yield 
aa absolutely sure and fixed income. 

It is this class of bonds that we sell 
and it is this class only that we advise 
you to buy. 

Simple Bond Talk. 

Further comment along the same line was made in "The Bank- 
ers Magazine'' as follows: 

SCIENTIFIC ADVERTISING. 

Advertising in the, general business world is based upon scientific prin- 
ciples; that is why it is so profitable. If advertising in the investment world 



86 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

cannot be conducted upon this same basis, with proper and reasonable 
modifications, as related to the style and character of the copy, then finan- 
cial advertising is purely and simply a waste of money. 

When investment bankers place their advertising in charge of men 
qualified to make it a careful and intelligent study, it will in time become 
one of the most valuable and profitable branches of the business. 

In what little experience I have had as an advertising representative, I 
have learned this lesson — one of the most important lessons: When the 
representative of a newspaper or magazine wants to discuss advertising 
with me, he gets the same consideration as we expect to see accorded our 
bond men when presenting their business to prospective clients. 

If this policy is adopted by us all, if we look upon advertising as a 
part of our business, and try to learn a few things from those v.ho are 
giving it their special study, we will save for our firms thousands of dol- 
lars. And we may be sure that without this knowledge, many thousands 
of dollars are absolutely wasted. 

This fact made itself apparent to me several years ago, and I have 
received my greatest help through the things I have learned from the better 
class of magazine and newspaper representatives. — Chas. L. Scovil, Adver- 
tising Manager, Spencer Trask & Co., Bankers. 



I want, to commend you and "The Bankers Magazine" for the depart- 
ment under the head of "Banking Publicity." This is certainly a splendid 
idea and one that surely ought to increase the popularity of "The Bankers 
Magazine." There is more work to be done in this respect than in any 
that I know of in banking circles, except eliminating the rogues from the 
fraternity. 

My studies of the financial advertising situation have convinced me 
that it is one of the largest classifications in advertising. There has been 
more money spent in advertising by financial institutions than by any other 
one class of business that I know of, and with less actual results. If there 
was more good publicity there would be more good banks and financial 
institutions and less room for the careless and unscrupulous. 

I heartily congratulate you upon the idea and wish you every success. 
— David G. Evans, Treasurer, "Success Magazine." 

KINDS OF FINANCIAL ADVERTISING. 

I am greatly interested in the splendid work which you are carrying 
on in your "Banking Publicity" Department. I believe that the subject of 
financial advertising has a very large future before it and that we should 
profit by the experience of the past and present in formulating a basis for 
future work. 

Financial advertising as to kind may be divided into three classes: 
(1) Selling services and facilities; (2) selling securities, bonds, stocks, 
notes, etc., and (3) notices of meetings, dividends, etc. Some object to 
the term "selling" as here used. Contrary to the belief of some, financial 
institutions are not philanthropic institutions but are conducted for profit. 
The day will come when financial institutions will realize that they have 



INVESTMENT ADVERTISING. 8T 

something to sell in the same sense as a manufacturer, jobber, wholesaler 
or retailer has something to sell. 

If it be undignified for a financial institution to advertise then it must 
also be undignified for it to offer its services and facilities, and if it is 
undignified to offer them it must also be undignified to render them. 

Financial advertising is to-day practically where commercial advertis- 
ing was twenty years ago. I predict that the style, methods and policies 
of financial advertising will be completely transformed within the next 
few years. Such change and progress will not lessen the dignity and high 
standing of financial men and institutions. To such men as you, who will 
later be in control of the financial field, will be given the opportunity of 
taking advantage of the new order of things. — Dr. Channing Rudd, "Wall 
Street Journal." 

OUTLINE OF CAMPAIGN. 

The matter of booklets is very important in the advertising of an 
investment house, as it is in many cases the main dependence in 
bringing the prospective investor to a favorable decision. The trou- 
ble with many investment booklets is that, like many investment 
advertisements, they are too heavy and technical. Interesting and 
effective investment booklets have been issued under such titles as: 
"A Financial Courtship," "An Ideal Investment," "The Astor For- 
tune," "The Art of Wise Investing," "The Value of a Dollar," 
"Facts and Figures," "About You and Your Savings," "Two Ways 
of Trading," "Fortunes in Copper," "The Law of Financial Suc- 
cess," "When to Buy Bonds," "At the Market," "Success in the 
Stock Market," "A Square Deal," "The Safest Investment." 

To give a practical illustration of the working out of the ideas 
advanced in this chapter, a preliminary advertising plan and a 
series of advertisements prepared by the author for a St. Louis 
investment house are reproduced. 

The plan was as follows: 

"These advertisements are designed for a series to be run daily in 
St. Louis newspapers, with a change of matter with every issue, 
but the same distinctive style of type and 'copy.' 

"The idea is to make a campaign of education at the same time 
that you get the best kind of general publicity. Moreover, each 
advertisement, as you notice, has the request for the reader to do 
something definite, viz.: send for a free booklet. 

"Of course, the theory of the booklet is that by offering it you get 
in touch with people interested in investing their money. You will, 
in time, be able to build up the best kind of a mailing list of pros- 
pective clients. 



88 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

"As you know, it is a hard thing to sell securities direct from a 
small space advertisement, but when you get a good list of inquiries 
and follow it up by strong letters and printed matter or by sales- 
men, paying results are certain. This is the method used by most 
big investment houses. 

A SUGGESTION 
FOR CONSERVATIVE INVESTORS 



really making the bes 












The reason so many of the larg 


[t corporal 






swing 








maturity 1 


:o be : 


.Me 


to |.Lk 


C the 


bonds of the corpora 


tions at a very 






! Of 




t, If 






crs of thes, 




! wilf have 








ixpire at a 




lately lower 


rate. The best way t 


illustrate this 


is by a co 






nple: 




We are offering 






4% b 




of ALLE- 


GHENY COUNTY, 


PENNSYLVANIA, a d 


irect, i 


nu.nl, 


:ipal o 


bliga- 



tion of a county witb an assessed valuation of $769,002,045, and a net 
debt of only $6,799,469, having a population by the census of 775,059 
and a present estimated population of 900,000. The total debt is less 
than IX of the assessed valuation. These bonds have thirty years to 
run, and we are offering them on a 3.85% basis. The net income on 
$100,000 of these bonds in the thirty years they will be outstanding, 
without taking into account compound interest, will be $115,500. If the 
•ame amount of money is invested today in a 3-year 5% note, the net 
income during the three years will be $15,000. If, at the end of that 

basis having 27 years to run, the net income would be $94,500. Add 
this to the $15,000 of income obtained during the first three years and 
you get a total of $109,500. You will, therefore, see that you will 
have made $6000 more during the thirty-year period by buying the 
long time bond at the present time. We are, of course, supposing 
that three years from now ALLEGHENY COUNTY bonds will be 

the past seven years they sold as follows : 1900. 3.30% basis; 1901, 
8.12% basis; 1903, 3.60% basis; 1904, 3.63-3.75% basis; 1905, 3.60% 
basis; 190S, 3.63-3.75% basis. 

There are, of course, many other good municipal bonds which 
e»n be bought today to net nearly as high as 4", such as the City of 
New York 50-year 4s and railroad bonds which could be bought to 
net considerably more than that, so that the illustration might be 
made a great deal more striking. We have, however, chosen' a very 
high-grade municipal bond to illustrate our point, but this illustration 
will apply at the present time to practically every Issue of high-grade; 
long-time bonds now in the market of either a municipal or r.-.ilroad 



Send for Our Feb. List of Investment Bond* 

E. H. ROLLINS & SONS 

31 MILK ST., BOSTON 

DENVER CHICAGO SAN fRANCISCO 



Real Advertising. 



"As far as the booklet 'Investment Advice' is concerned, we 
would prepare that after consultation with you, the idea being to 
make it a small but interesting and practical discussion of points to 
be considered in bond and stock investment. 



INVESTMENT ADVERTISING. 89 

"We would advise the placing of the newspaper advertisements 
on local news pages rather than on the financial page, for this rea- 
son : You are advertising for new business. Most of the people who 
make a close study of the financial page already have good chan- 
nels of investment. At any rate, business men who study that page 
likewise read the local news pages. Whereas many who read the 
local pages and are possible investors, never look at the financial 
page. This applies especially to women. 

"Our effort would be to make the advertising so attractive, inter- 
esting and individual that you would get the moral effect of an ad- 
vertisement several times as large. In short, it would stand out 
strongly and compel attention. In time the cumulative effect of 
this advertising would create an atmosphere, a good will for your 
business which would prove one of your best assets. You have some- 
thing of that kind now, but the right kind of advertising would 
increase its value out of all proportion to the cost. 

"If you have some particular class of bonds which provides 
strong talking points — such as security and good net return — it 
would pay to advertise it in some of the standard magazines of large 
circulation. 

"It is said that the American Real Estate Company, of New 
York, spent $12,000 in magazine advertising one year and sold 
$250,000 worth of its six per cent, bonds guaranteed by New York 
real estate. 

"Our plan for you would also include a series of 'follow up' 
letters and circulars with a method of handling the same." 

The advertisements were as follows: 

YOU CAN PAY TOO MUCH 

for safety. There arc securities which sell at prices much above their real 
value because everybody knows them to be good and investors who do not 
want to take the trouble to investigate are willing to pay extra for them. 

It is better to go to experienced investment brokers and get advice. 
You can make more and still be perfectly safe. 

We are always pleased to advise those with funds to invest. 

Our free booklet, "Investment Advice," will help you. Better send 
for it to-dav. 



COMPARATIVE VALUES. 



A study of comparative values is important when you are deciding 
upon an investment. You want to get the best return consistent with 
safety, of course. When you make your investment through a house of 



90 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

long standing and reliability like ours you have the benefit of comparative 
values, and are relieved of a good deal of doubt and annoyance. 

We are always pleased to give counsel in investment matters. 

Send for our iist of bond and stock offerings and free booklet, "Invest- 
ment Advice." 

NOTES VS. BONDS. 

At present the market is crowded with short time, high rate notes. 
These look attractive, but it is well to consider before buying whether they 
are really the best investment. 

Many large corporations are issuing these notes because at maturity 
they expect to be able to place their bonds at a much lower rate of inter- 
est. Then the present buyers of the notes will have to reinvest their money 
less advantagously than they could now in a long term municipal or rail- 
road bond. 

We have some very desirable issues of long term securities. Send for 
list and our free booklet, "Investment Advice.*' 



OWNING A BOND, 

You own actual property. For convenience a trustee holds the title, 
but he holds it for you. The corporation issuing the bond must pay the 
interest and repay the principal, or the mortgage guaranteeing the bond is 
foreclosed and the property passes to the bondholder. 

When you buy bonds from us you have all the security of a mortgage 
bought under the advice of experts in investment values. 

Send to-day for our list of attractive bond offerings and free booklet, 
"Investment Advice." 



NON-SPECULATIVE INVESTMENT. 

Well chosen bonds fall under this head. They are secured by prop- 
erty guaranteeing your investment, dollar for dollar, and interest beside. 

Every wise investor will place at least a portion of his surplus in a 
safe, non-speculative investment of this character. 

In choosing bonds you need the advice of experts. Our knowledge and 
experience along this line are at your command. 

We have some very good bond offerings at present. Ask for descrip- 
tive list and our free booklet, "Investment Advice." 



"INVESTMENT ADVICE" 

is the name of a very interesting and practical booklet on the subject of 
investments which we have prepared for distribution among our clients and 
others interested in the judicious investment of their funds. 

It goes into the subject of bonds quite fully and gives valuable hints 
on investment matters generally. 

With it goes our new list of high grade bond and stock offerings. 

Send to-day for "Investment Advice." 



INVESTMENT ADVERTISING. 91 

EXPERT FINANCIAL COUNSEL. 

So far as you deal with us we consider you our client, and we want 
you to consider us your expert financial adviser, as your lawyer is your 
expert legal adviser. 

We have hundreds of regular clients who have profited by our advice 
in past years. 

No one has ever lost a dollar through us. 

If you are interested in wise investment send for one of our free book- 
lets, "Investment Advice." 



LET US HEAR FROM YOU 

if you are not satisfied with 3 or 3 1-2 per cent, interest at the savings 
banks. It is possible even with a small sum of money to make a safe and 
profitable investment in stock or bonds. 

Our clients' interests are our interests. We exercise exactly the same 
care in placing your funds for you that we do in our personal investments. 

"Investment Advice" is an interesting and valuable booklet on invest- 
ment matters. It is free to anyone interested. 



THE INTRINSIC MERIT 

of a security is a point that the average investor is not always able to 
determine for himself. When in doubt it pays to confer with experienced 
investment brokers having at hand the facilities to determine just what is 
back of every security offered. 

To investigate the soundness of securities we buy for our clients we 
employ the ablest engineers, accountants and lawyers. Those we sell on 
commission we make sure have been investigated in a like thorough 
manner. 

Send for our investment list and our free booklet, "Investment Advice." 



WRITE TO US. 

We give prompt and careful attention to all communications and are 
pleased to answer any of your questions, if you are a prospective investor 
or seek advice as to the placing of surplus funds. 

We have many regular clients in St. Louis and in all this section. It 
will pay you to get acquainted with us and our manner of doing business. 

As a first step send for the free booklet, "Investment Advice," and out 
list of good bond and stock Offerings. 



INVESTING TRUST FUNDS. 

Trustees, guardians, executors, administrators — those having charge of 
trust funds, have special reason to exercise the utmost discretion in 

choosing investments. 



92 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

We have had extensive experience in placing advertisements of this 
character, and are always pleased to give advice along this line to persons 
hiving such rsponsibility. 

Our free booklet, "Investment Advice," and our list of conservative 
stock and bond offerings will be of interest and value to you if you have 
funds to invest. 



CASH CONVERTIBILITY. 

An important thing to be considered in choosing an investment is the 
readiness with which you can get back your principal when you want it. 

There are times when you need ready cash. Indeed, to have all your 
funds "slow assets'' might mean disaster sometimes. 

There is always a market for good bonds and it is possible to get safe 
ones that pay well. 

Send for our list of high grade bonds and free booklet, "Investment 
Advice." 



A WISE CHOICE 

of investments cannot usually be made entirely upon your own judgment. 
When it comes to placing out your own money or funds left in your charge 
to earn an income it pays to get the best advice. 

A single poor investment may cause you more loss than you gain by 
a dozen good ones 

You want to keep all you have and get as much more as you can. 

If you have money to invest — even a moderate amount — it will pay 
you to talk it over with us. 

Possibly our free booklet, "Investment Advice," would help you. 



BE YOUR OWN BANKER. 

Experience has shown that the bank is a safe place for your money, 
but your funds do not earn very much there. 

The bank invests part of your money in good bonds which return it 
enough more interest than it pays you to allow a fair margin of profit. 

By investing in good bonds yourself, you get more nearly the full 
earning power of your money, but you need to exercise the same expert 
judgment in choosing your investment that the bank docs. 

That is where a reliable investment house like ours can help you. Send 
for our free booklet, "Investment Advice." 



A TALK ON CONFIDENCE. 

One way for the investment advertiser to get a favorable hear- 
ing and build up confidence is to use occasionally a line of argument 



INVESTMENT ADVERTISING. 93 

similar to the following, written by the author for a large invest- 
ment house: 

Business as it is conducted to-day would be impossible without confi- 
dence. 

In this term I would include credit, trust and self-reliance. 

The general principles of the great system of credit, which does so much 
to facilitate modern commercial transactions, are so well known that I shall 
speak only of trust and self-reliance. 

By trust I mean your practical belief in the integrity and promises of 
another person. 

Why do you trust your friends? 

Because you know them. 

Because their record is before you. 

Because you have proved their integrity. 

In other words, you trust them because you have evidence to support 
a belief in them. 

But if you did business only with friends and acquaintances the scope 
of your activity would be rather limited. 

So it becomes necessary in business nowadays for you to trust those 
whom you do not know personally. 

How can this be done safely? 

By demanding in each case evidence to support your belief. 

Evidence includes the testimony of witnesses and all facts of every 
kind that tend to prove the truth of anything. 

To make this illustration specific, suppose you want to make an invest- 
ment through this company. 

You do not know me personally perhaps, but such strong evidence of 
my reliability is available that you may have absolute confidence in my 
integrity and good judgment, which form the basis of a man's reliability. 

I am well known to the business men of this and other cities. 

I have thousands of clients all over the country. References to them 
and to national banks are yours for the asking. 

Their replies will give you evidence by testimony of authority — the 
strongest kind. 

Here are some of the facts going to prove more conclusively that I 
am a fit man for your confidence: 

I have been in the mail order investment business for more than seven 
years with steadily growing success. 

This would have been impossible for a man or a business not abso- 
lutely "on the square." 

A dishonest business soon kills itself. 

A mail order concern that does not give its customers a square deal 
loses them and soon finds it impossible to get new ones. 

On the other hand, a corporation like this, which deals honestly with 
its customers, looking to the future and not merely to the present, is 
bound to succeed when properly managed, as this is. 

It is more important for you as a prospective investor to investigate 
me and my methods than it is tor you to investigate the particular invest- 
ments, although it is your privilege to do both. 



94 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

I am satisfied that if you have confidence in me you will take my 
advice in investment matters. 

I do not claim to be infallible, but the soundness of my judgment is 
amply proved by results. 

Choosing those in whom to place confidence is a very important way to 
use your own judgment. 

It is often as great a factor in a man's success as his own industry 
and perseverance. 

I have confidence in myself or I never would have embarked in this 
business. 

I had confidence in the public, and the public has had confidence in me. 

Otherwise the business would not have succeeded as it has. 

My own large profits and thousands of satisfied clients prove that this 
mutual confidence has paid well. 

If you and I are strangers let us get acquainted for the advantage of 
us both. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Real Estate Advertising. 

THE man who handles real estate has one of the best proposi- 
tions in the world to advertise. 

Land is something real, tangible, substantial. It is the 
foundation of all wealth- — a fundamental necessity. Everybody has 
to live somewhere, and everybody — whether owner or renter — must 
pay something, either directly or indirectly, for the privilege of 
using part of the earth to live on. 

Therefore, the field before the real estate man is as broad as 
humanity itself. The arguments that he can use in his advertising 
are such as touch intimately the daily life and necessities of the 
great mass of people. 

Millions of dollars are spent annually in real estate advertising. 
Much of this amount is wasted because of lack of originality and 
modern methods of following up prospects. 

Nowhere has real estate advertising reached such a high devel- 
opment as in New York City. The marvelous growth of the metrop- 
olis and the stupendous engineering undertakings being carried on 
there to help the city keep up with its own progress make a great 
opportunity. 

A study of the advertising methods of the typical New York 
suburban real estate company, therefore, is profitable for real estate 
advertisers everywhere. 

With the New York real estate companies the first step is to 
get inquiries, that is, the names of persons who are interested enough 
in any particular suburban property to write asking for advertising 
literature and further information. 

Most such inquiries are received as the result of advertising in 
the newspapers and magazines. A plan commonly used is to adver- 
tise to send handsomely illustrated literature or an interesting real 
estate magazine free. Several companies make a specialty of their 
monthly house organs, which really are of considerable interest, and 
value, containing, in addition to the selling articles, much well 
written matter on New York real estate in general. Of course, a 
specialty is made of maps and illustrations from actual photographs 
of the property and its surroundings. 

These house organs, while the backbone of the follow up cam- 
paign, are by no means the only printed matter used. Immense 



96 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

quantities of special circulars, mailing cards, form letters are go- 
ing out constantly containing special offers and announcements of 
current events having a bearing upon the increase in real estate 
values around New York — such as the completion of tunnels, sub- 
ways, bridges and other public improvements. 

In the typical case where the prospective buyer lives at a dis- 
tance from New York and is unable to go to see the property, this 
is the course from inquirer to buyer: 

GETTING THE INQUIRY. 

The person sees an attractive advertisement in the newspaper 
or magazine. It offers something for nothing — a magazine on New 
York real estate, in which he is already more or less interested. He 
says to himself; "I might as well get that. It doesn't cost anything 
and puts me under no obligation." So he fills out the coupon and 
mails it to the company. 

As soon as his name is received at the .office of the real estate 
company it is copied on a card and goes into an alphabetically and 
geographically arranged "prospect" file. The inquirer receives a 
form letter with his name and address filled in. This letter 
acknowledges the receipt of his request for the magazine, says that 
it will be sent him promptly, and briefly calls attention to the 
special real estate propositions that the company is handling. 

The first number of the house organ arrives in due time and is 
read with interest by the prospect. It contains several general real 
estate articles and one or two selling articles which conclude v ith 
a coupon order blank. 

The prospect is interested, but unless he is unusually susceptible, 
probably is not thoroughly convinced. Possibly it will tike the 
reading of two, three or a half dozen issues of the house organ to 
convince the prospect that he ought to buy the particular land that 
the company is selling. 

The articles in the magazine bearing upon the sub-division 
property describe it fully in such details as: Location, railroad 
facilities, healthfulness of climate and surroundings, industries, 
population, statistics of growth, schools, churches, stores, natural 
attractions of the vicinity, etc. 

THE BUYING PLAN. 

The buying plan is very carefully explained, particular empha- 
sis being put upon the fact that the lots can be bought on the instal- 




UXURY, culture and refinement 
.are everywhere in evidence in 
m Prospect, Hill." Beautiful, well 
kept homes; broad, clean, as- 
phalt streets, trees, flowers and shrubbery, all corn- 
s' bine to make this a. place of beauty and desirable residence. 
What do these - surroundings mean to you who want a 
home dwelling free from all the .unpleasant features that too 
often mar a city home? Will you still be content to- pay a 
large- rental in a less desirable location when the'same monthly 
outlay will buyyou a home fn this "Place of Beautiful 
Homes?" The Prospect Hill plan 
was devised to interest the man 

FOR the man of independent w f l0 can a ff or d to rent at $40.00 to 
income, business success „ _ . 

$75.00 a month but who hesitates 

to spend in one amount a sum suf- 
ficient to build a house equivalent 
to that rental valuer 

Prospect Hill is a community of 
successful men who have built on 
the Prospect Hill plan — "builded 
better -than they knew," for the 
steadily increasing value of the 
.property has brought splendid re- 
turns. 

Read the plan, go and look at 
the property, then let us discuss 
further details at vour office or ours. 



THE PLAN 

J"OR the man of independent 
income, business success 
or assured salary has been 
devised a monthly payment 
plan for buying a home in Pros- 
pect Hill. This plan overcomes 
the only_argumentagainst own- 
ing as compared with renting. 
It obviates the necessity for in- 
vesting $3000 to $15000 in one 
sum lor a house, such as the 
renter can find for $40.00 to 
$75.00 a month. A small pay- 
ment down and the balance in 
monthly payments, about equal 
to the rental value of the proper- 
tytfjuys a home.that in ten years' 
time is fully paid for and has 
materially increased in value. 
This house will be built entire- 
ly under the owner's direction. 



Mr. John R. Goodrich, who has been identified ivitb the 
development of Prospect Hill from the beginning, will 
furnish any further information desired. 




PROSPECT HILL LAND CO. 

JOHN R GOODRICH. Agent 

mth HACKETT&HOFF 

77 MICHIGAN STREET 
A High Class Real Estate Advertisement. 




98 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

mcnt plan of a few dollars down and a few dollars a month. The 
reader is told very clearly and definitely what he must do to buy 
a lot. 

Promptness of action is urged because prices are going up., the 
best lots are being taken and this opportunity can not last indef- 
initely. 

A time limit is a good thing in any real estate offer. "For 
thirty days only/' if hammered into the minds of prospective buy- 
ers, will make them step lively if they are in the market at all for 
what you are offering them. Placing a limit of time within which 
a certain thing must be done makes it more likely that the thing 
will be done because it forces the mind to a decision. 

It is a difficult thing for many persons to decide to take some 
action even after they are convinced that it is the proper course 
to pursue. We are all more or less mentally lazy and act more 
surely under pressure or upon the spur of a real or imagined 
necessity. 

But to return to our New York suburban real estate campaign. 
When the prospect has been thoroughly inspired with confidence in 
the proposition and has full knowledge concerning the property and 
the terms, he is quite likely to buy if he was really in earnest when 
he began to investigate. 

In case the inquirer is a resident of New York or lives within 
a few miles of the city so that he can easily visit the property 
different methods are pursued with him. The effort is not so much 
to sell to him direct by mail, but to induce him to make the trip to 
the property and see for himself just what it is, and it is left for the 
company's representatives on the ground to close the sale if pos- 
sible. Free automobile rides or refunding of railroad fare arc 
special inducements made to get people to visit the projoerty. 

It is the aim of the advertiser to make his arguments so strong 
and compelling that the reader will do something definite whether 
it is to sign the coupon and send the first payment or to decide to 
go and visit the property. 

Buying a piece of real estate is not as simple a matter as buying 
a suit of clothes. It is not done hastily, as a rule. So that a pretty 
thorough presentation of the case must be made before a sale is 
effected. Tor that reason and because advertising space in i lie New 
York newspapers and the general magazines is expensive, real estate 
concerns rarely attempt to sell direct from the advertisement. 



REAL ESTATE ADVERTISING. 99 

Experiments have been made along that line, but the results 
have been so poor that such a course is rarely attempted now. The 
author knows of an instance where a full page ad. with coupon 
order blank was run in the most expensive newspaper in New York. 
This was an experiment and it was a failure. The returns did not 
come anywhere near paying for the advertisement. 

Another exrjeriment that did not "pan out" was using several 
pages of space in one issue of a general magazine. 

The gist of the lesson taught by these various experiments and 
by actual experience is that the wisest way to do is to use fairly 
large space in good mediums to get inquiries and then follow these 
up hard by personal solicitation, letters, circulars and every other 
approved method of direct advertising, and if there is one thing 
more than another that needs to be blazoned on the banner of ever} r 
real estate advertiser, or that is worthy of a place alongside the "Do 
it now" motto over his desk it is this: TELL THE TRUTH. 

No other policy pays in the long run and nothing else is right at 
any time. You must have faith in the property you are advertis- 
ing and then you can the more easily transmit your faith to others. 

In advertising to homescekers there is little danger of having 
the advertisement too long because buying a home is such a big 
event in the life of most families that the members will read every- 
thing you say if they think that it may help them in a choice of 
a home. 

But there is danger of making a long story prolix and involved. 
Clearness is essential in a successful advertisement. 

The descriptive booklet is the piece de resistance of most cam- 
paigns because it must be depended upon to convince the prospect 
and turn him into a customer. 

THE REAL ESTATE BROKER. 

There is a distinction between a real estate dealer and a real 
estate broker, and there is likewise some difference in their adver- 
tising methods. 

The broker, as a rule, does not buy property himself, but merely 
acts for others on a commission basis. He handles valuable income- 
producing or high-class residence property rather than suburb.' u 
sub-divisions. 

The class of investors to whom the broker in this kind of real 
estate appeals can not be influenced to any great extent by the 

tdfC. 



Which Will It Be= 
Pay R@et or Own Youf Own Horn© 1 ? 

To pay rent for another year means, at the end of the year, twelve rent re- 
ceipts, which are worthless You can buy a home in FLATBUSH by paying 
■from 10 to 50% of the purchase price agreed upon in cash; the balance of the 
purchase price can always be arranged by mortgages. If you purchase a home 
n Platbush and at the end of the year you desire to move to a larger or smaller 
lome, or to another section, you can sell the property, conservatively speak- 
ng, for from 5 to 25% more thaxi you gave for it. Hence, you have saved the 
noney that you would have paid for rent and have really been paid for hav- 
ng lived there for twelve months 

We cotild give you no better guarantee as to the truth of this statement 
than to refer you to people to whom we have sold homes. Your good common 
sense and judgment would tell you that to be able to make a statetnent of this 
kind and prove it we must be very careful as to what we say, and see that 
you buy your property at the right price and in the right location. There are 
good sections and there are sections that will greatly enhance in value in the 
near future, and it Is our pleasure to direct any buyer that comes to our office 
properly 

We are not spending the amount of money that we do spend in advertising 
to make enemies. We want your friendship and the friendship of your friends, 
and we want your friends who visit you in Flatbush to buy their homes through 
our office Our reputation is many times greater to us than the little commis- 
sion that we might make in selling you a home Henoe our caution, which any 
good business man will appreciate. 

If you are in the market to buy. a home or an investment of any kihd, or for 
any amount, why not come to our office, where you can have the advic« of 
competent and reliable salesmen, who are well paid for advising you right? 
Your purchase costs you no more, in fact, many times it would cost you less, 
by dealing through a responsible and reliable broker rather than doing busi- 
ness direct with the owner 

We are prepared to show you any style of a home ranging in price from 
54,500 to $150,000 each 'We can show you any style of investment property, 
such as two-family houses, flats, apartments, lots and plots, in any size, or in 
any quantity, and are always glad to put our time as against yours in "trying to 
select such a home, or such an investment as will please you. You are under 
no obligations to us whether you buy or not, and you will be treated courte- 
ously Our carriages are at your disposal and our office is open Sundays, for 
■the convenience of those who cannot come week days. 

We are under no obligations to any builder or any owner of property that 
we have for sale, and are free to advise, and will advise, you in making your 
selection to the best of our ability, and on account of our heavy amount of ad- 
vertising we have a great dealer larger list of properties to show you than any 
other broker in Flatbush Hence, we are certainly in position to render you ex- 
pert advice on values, by actual comparison of properties in the different sec- 
tions. 

Values in Flatbush Will Dduble Within 5 Years. 

Star & Cresceot 

§19 and 8! 9a Fiatbush A v., 

OPPOSITE FLATBUSH POST OFFICE. 
Tn taking Brighton Beach Elevated train get! off at Woodruff Avenue Station. In taking Flat- 
bush surface line get off at Caton Avenue. Any one can direct j-ou to onr office, 

A Good Appeal to Homeseekers. 



REAL ESTATE ADVERTISING. 101 

sentimental arguments that are often effective with homeseekers, 
for instance. 

The broker does not need to advertise for sellers. They come 
of their own accord, but he does need to advertise for buyers. The 
higher priced the property to be sold is, the more advertising it 
takes to sell it, and the more it will pay to advertise it. 

The copy best suited to sell high class property is full of infor- 
mation and the most important information is the price. 

Special lists of possible buyers of real estate can be obtained 
by watching the names in the real estate transfers published in the 
newspapers. Personal letters making a definite proposition ought 
to be productive when sent to regular buyers, but a personal visit 
is better than a letter because it leads to an acquaintance which may 
result in business advantage later on, if not at once. 

Attorneys are also good prospects for the real estate broker, 
because they are not only speculators in real estate themselves some- 
times, but they have many among their clients who are. 

In his booklets, circulars and other advertising matter the broker 
should always tell exactly what services and opportunities he has to 
offer. On a proposition like this it is better to send advertising 
matter to the home, address of the "prospect," as the chances are 
that the advertisement will get more attention there than at the 
business office. 

As far as the New York field is concerned, the best medium for 
this class of real estate advertising probably is the "Herald." The 
"World" and the "American" ("Journal") are good for cheaper 
property. The "Times," "Press," "Sun" and "Evening Post" are 
excellent for high class properties. The Sunday issues are best 
because they carry a lot of real estate and building news and are 
read in the homes. The use of the real estate "classified" advertis- 
ing is advisable in special cases. 

"SEE THE PROPERTY." 

In real estate advertising the very first object in most cases is 
to induce the prospective buyer to see the property. If you can do 
that, then it remains for the merits of your proposition itself and 
the selling ability of your salesman to close the deal. 

But sometimes possible purchasers live so far away that it is 
impossible for them to visit the property personally. Then the 
story must be told so fully and convincingly in the advertising mat- 



102 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

ter that the person interested will feel that he is just as safe in deal- 
ing with you at a distance as he would be face to face. 

One of the most important things to be kept in mind in real 
estate, as in all classes of advertising, is that confidence must be 
inspired before you can do business with anybody. 

And telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth 
in your advertising is the best way to do it. Depend for effective- 
ness in your advertising uj)on the strong, compelling way in which 
you present the truth, not upon any distortion of facts or high color- 
ing of the truth. Be authoritative, not supplicating. 

Testimony of satisfied clients and references as to your own 
character, ability, experience and general trustworthiness, and true 
photographs of the property to be sold, provide the best possible 
evidence that you and your claims are worthy of the confidence of 
those you are trying to interest in your real estate. 

REAL ESTATE TALKING POINTS. 

Good talking points for real estate advertising will be found in 
the following list: 

CONVENIENCE OF LOCATION. 

Healthfulness — pure air and water, good drainage. 

Pleasant surroundings. 

Transportation faeilities. 

Good neighbors. 

Good climate. 

Cheapness of living. 

Public improvements — water, gas, electric light, sewers, pavements, 
sidewalks, parks, boulevards, wide streets, shade trees. 

Churches, schools, art galleries, libraries, museums, stores, hotel. 

Low price of property, easy terms, discount for cash, instalment pay- 
ments. 

Probability of increase in value — growth of population, new industries, 
new railroads and trolleys, prosperity of the region. 

Natural beauty and attractiveness, nearness of recreation places. 

The amount invested in the industries of the place. 

Aggregate wages paid. 

Large amount and value of products of place. 

Favorable shipping facilities. 

Best locations going quickly — "Last opportunity." 

Good home place. 

Mail delivery. 

Growth of realty values in past few years. 

Actual examples of increased value. 

Photographs of property. 

Low taxes. No taxes for a long time. 



101 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

No interest on deferred payment?. 

No charge for deed. Free and perfect title guarantee. 

Property bought ahead of improvements so that low prices can be 
offered. 

Buy before and not after further improvements are made. 

Large demand for houses. 

Extensive house building going on. 

Building restrictions. 

Large number of lots bought by persons familiar with the property. 

Buying for children's benefit — better place in which to bring them 
up and property may make them independently rich. 

Buying real estate intelligently. 

Buying real estate on instalments compels economy and gives an object 
in life — something to work for. 

Grasping opportunities. 

Scenic attractions. 

Free railroad tickets or free automobile trip to see the property. 

Public and private improvements in progress increasing value of all 
property in vicinity. 

Well-known persons who have bought lots or are building homes. 

Future of property protected. 

Prices go up on a certain date. 

Safety of investment in land combining rural and city advantages, 
with drawbacks of neither. 

Police and fire protection. 

Height above sea level. 

Nearness to large cities. 

Increase in assessed valuation of community. 

Sending maps of property upon request. 

Landscape gardening. 

Low railroad fare. 

Rent pays for home. 

Certificate of title furnished. 

The "unearned increment." 

Let the operation of a great natural law work for your benefit. 

The importance of "doing it now." 

Laying the foundation of a fortune. 

Only a small sum down needed to secure a lot. 

Large-sized lots. 

Good real estate a "live" asset. 

Non-forfeiture clause in case of lapsed instalment payments. 

Real estate the only genuinely safe investment. 

Get ahead of the masses. 

Assessors' figures. 

Make real estate your savings bank. 

Compare prices with those of similarly located property. 

Example of successful men who have invested in real estate. 

Quotations from men of prominence urging investment in realty. 

Social life. 

The foundation of all realty value is utility. That is evidenced by 
rent, which, capitalized, forms value. 



REAL ESTATE ADVERTISING. 105 

No saloons in neighborhood. 

Think it over and consult with your wife. 

Advertising value of an office in a prominent building. 

Giving the children a chance in the suburbs. 

Own a house to live in, don't just rent a house to stay in. 

Experience qualifying to get best results in managing property. 

Get away from the noisy, dusty, crowded city. 

The love of home, the desire to own his own home, the security 
of land — these all appeal just as much to the farmer as to the city 
dweller, as human nature is the same everywhere. Therefore, very 
similar arguments can be used in selling either farm land or city 
property. By the same token, studying the advertising methods 
of the Western farm land operator as well as those used by the 
New York realty companies will be beneficial to anyone who has real 
estate to sell and wants to do it by advertising. 

SOME RESULTFUL ADVERTISING. 

The author thinks this sufficient warrant, therefore, for repro- 
ducing here some resultful advertising matter prepared by himself 
for both a New York suburban proposition and a Western land 
company. 

Following is part of a circular written for the New York 
operator : 

This is a plain, common-sense talk about real estate investment in 
the suburbs of New York. 

I want to speak to you just as frankly and earnestly as though you 
were my closest, personal friend and had dropped into my office and drawn 
up your chair for a chat and some friendly advice. 

Of course, you want to make money. You are considering the sub- 
ject of real estate investment, not from a patriotic motive or for any sen- 
timental reasons. 

It is business, pure and simple. 

The wav to make monev in real estate IS TO SELL LAND FOR 
MORE THAN IT COSTS YOU. 

I propose to tell you how this can be done in New York suburban 
real estate. 

At the very outset, there are several facts I want to impress upon you. 

In the first place, dismiss from your mind the idea that you must have 
a, large amount of money in order to invest profitably in New York realty. 

Many persons defer, from time to time, investing in real estate been use 
the sum of money they have at hand seems too little. 

Putting it off like that only keeps them back so much longer from 
success. 

As little as $10 a month — a sum, which, perhaps, you now spend fool- 
ishly or waste absolutely — is all you need to start you on the road to sate 
and profitable investment. 



106 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

INVESTMENT AND SPECULATION. 

Another thing-, buying suburban real estate wisely is not speculation. 

It is investment. 

And there's a difference. 

If you SPECULATE, you have a small chance of gain and a very 
great probability — almost a certainty — of loss. 

In speculation, you depend upon luck, .which is a mighty poor depend- 
ence, indeed. 

In investment, you depend upon facts, reasons, common sense, and 
these are a mighty good dependence. 

Those who speculate do not know that they will profit. 

They scarcely believe that they will. 

They only hope that they will. 

They pin their faith to a mere chance — a gamble, for speculation, 
whether on the Stock Exchange or elsewhere, is simon pure gambling. 

I take it for granted that you want to have nothing to do with that. 

For thousands of persons, the chance of enormous profits by specula- 
tion is a greater inducement than the almost absolute CERTAINTY of 
more conservative gains by wise investment. 

That is because there are so many foolish, unthinking people in the 
work'. 

LAND A SUBSTANTIAL REALITY. 

But let us consider real estate investment. 

To begin with, in buying land — any land — you get something tangible. 

There is something REAL back of the document that gives you title 
to ANY piece of real estate. 

Land cannot burn up. 

An earthquake can't destroy it. 

It cannot be blown away by a cyclone. 

Nobody can run off with it. 

It is as firm and lasting as the earth itself of which it is a part. 

But there is land — and land. 

Your probability of profit — the reasonableness of all real estate invest- 
ment — rests on this fact: 

UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, LAND IS VALUABLE AND 
IS SURE TO GROW IN VALUE. 

Therefore, the course for the wise investor — whether he has much or 
little to invest — is simply this: 

Learn what those conditions are. 

Learn where they exist to the greatest extent. 

Then buy land there and let. the natural, inevitable development re- 
ward you. 

That's how money is made in real estate. 

But let me go a little further. 

Because I used the word '"learn" do not think that there is anything 
difficult to understand or mysterious about the matter of real estate values. 

You probably know now what the conditions of real estate growth 
are, though perhaps you have never applied your knowledge in a practical 
way. 



REAL ESTATE ADVERTISING. 107 

Isn't it just as true of land as it is of anything else that is bought 
and sold, that, as demand increases and supply decreases, the price goes up ? 

That is why, as a very general rule, the value of a piece of property is 
in direct ratio to the number of people who want it. 

In other words, growth of population and growth in real estate values 
go hand in hand. 

This is a simple fact which has as many striking proofs as there are 
towns and cities in the world. 

You KNOW this is true, so it is useless to waste time and space in 
saying anything more on that point. 

But perhaps you have never been made to realize fully that in New 
York City and its suburbs the conditions for great and rapid growth in 
real estate exist in the highest degree. 

THE NEW SITUATION AT NEW YORK. 

Briefly stated, here is the new situation: 

After causing Manhattan to be built up solidly, the ceaseless flow of 
the great stream of humanity crossed the Harlem River on the North 
to spread out and make the Bronx. 

Then it rushed over the East River bridges to populate Brooklyn and 
the Long Island suburbs. 

Now it is about to be turned strongly in a new direction by the three 
new railroad tunnels under the Hudson River from Manhattan to New 
Jersey. 

That section of the State long ago — even before tunnel connection 
with New York was even dreamt of — derived great benefit from its near- 
ness to the metropolis. 

It has grown steadily and rapidly. Latterly, in anticipation of the 
closer union with New York, as well as on account of the general pros- 
perity of the country, the development has been very rapid indeed. 

THIS HAS BEEN PROVED. 

Now, it has been proved over and over again, and as clearly and con- 
clusively as anything can be proved, that new or improved means of rapid 
transit anywhere in or around New York always result in an unusual 
growth of the territory affected, and a sure advance in real estate values. 

The opening of the Subway to the Bronx is a case in point. 

That caused an increase of several hundred per cent, in land values 
ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. 

You don't have to be a lawyer or a great business man to sec the 
force of this argument. 

Doesn't your plain, ordinary common sense tell you that the tunnels to 
the New Jersey suburbs of New York create a distinct opportunity for 
the man who makes a well advised investment in real estate there now ? 

There has been no secret about these New Jersey tunnels. 

People have known for ten years or more that they wire to be built. 

But until very recently it cannot be said that the tunnels had very 
much influence on New Jersey real estate. 

Now, however, it is different. 

The tunnels are almost done. 



108 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

The result is that now investors and homeseekers are waking up to 
the grand opportunity, and prices of property — even such as is likelv to 
be only indirectly benefited by the tunnels — are beginning to advance. 

AVhat has taken place in Brooklyn, the Bronx and elsewhere around 
New York is going to be repeated in the New Jersey suburbs, and those 
who are wise enough to do as others did with their opportunity elsewhere 
will surely make money here. 

FACTS, NOT GUESSWORK. 

This prediction is not built on mere guesswork. It has a sounder basis. 

Effects are never without their causes. 

There are laws in real estate as certain in their operation as those 
in the realm of science. 

That is why real estate experts are able to forecast results from their 
knowledge of cause and effect in property values. 

Doing away with the tedious and unpleasant ferrying across the Hud- 
son River will save from twenty to thirty minutes in the time required to 
go from the New Jersey suburbs to the business center of New York. 

That is the same as bringing those places miles nearer to New York. 

MINUTES MEAN DOLLARS. 

The value of every house and lot in these suburbs ought to be in- 
creased at least $50 for every minute clipped off the time required to get 
to the city. 

There isn't the slightest doubt about that. 

It is reasonable, and, more than that, the same tiling has occurred 
in other places under similar circumstances. 

* * * * » 

Following is an extract from a leaflet written for the Colony 
Farm Homes Association of St. Louis, Mo.: 

A FEW WORDS WITH THRIFTY FARMERS. 

AVhat are you living and working for? I'm not asking that thought- 
lessly, nor is this to be a sermon. I ask the question simply to set you 
thinking. 

Do you want to work all your days for little more than a bare exist- 
ence and leave your children a legacy of more hard work and mortgages 
to pay? 

That's about the way it'll be if you keep on working an expensive, 
more or less unproductive, farm in an older settled part of the country. 

Why not stop working against heavy odds and go to Northern Texas, 
the land of health, wealth and contentment, where you can quickly become 
independent and give your children the chance they ought to have? 

If you have never considered leaving the hard, unpleasant, unprofitable 
farming conditions where vou are now and moving to this best part of the 
great new Southwest, THINK ABOUT IT SERIOUSLY NOW. 



REAL ESTATE ADVERTISING. 109 

Read every word of the Men&ota Colony Farms booklet I have sent you. 

It tells you about your greatest opportunity— just the opportunity 
that you have been looking for all these years. 

It tells you about the Mendota Colony Farms in the Washita and Red 
Deer Valleys of the Eastern Pan Handle of Texas, where you can buy 
ten acres of land for what one acre costs you where you are living. 

And it's better land;, too. 

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU. 

It tells you how, with the same amount of work, you can get much 
larger returns than you are getting now, and all the time you and your 
family can live in the most delightful and healthful climate in the United 
States — in the Highlands of Texas. 

There are some things about the Mendota Colony Farms that I did not 
touch upon when I wrote that booklet, and there are others I did mention 
that I want to emphasize, so I'm writing this circular. 

I want you to consider that what T say here is just as personal to you 
as if you were one of my neighbors or friends and had come over to my 
place for a little visit and to get some advice from me. 

SOME PERSONAL ADVICE. 

Now I want to tell you that if you were a relative of mine or my 
closest friend I WOULD NOT and COULD NOT give you any better 
advice than I am giving all readers of that booklet when I say 

"Get one of the Mendota Colony Farms now." 

I was born on a farm. I was raised in the country, and for the last 
twenty-five years I have been engaged in buying and selling lands in the 
West and Southwest. 

During that time I have made a pretty close study of soils, crops and 
agricultural matters generally. 

I know good land when I see it. 

For a long time I had watched the situation in the Pan Handle of 
Texas. I knew that the cattle men there couldn't hold those great fertile 
tracts much longer against the flood of homeseekers swarming into this 
"Last West" of the United States. 

VIRGIN SOIL, READY FOR THE PLOW. 

I knew that rich, well-watered soil five or six feet deep, was too good 
to be used for grazing purposes alone, when there were thousands of 
farmers looking for just such virgin soil, all ready for the plow. 

The ranchmen realized what was coming, too. They knew that, sooner 
or later, they would have to sell out and move out. 

But they did not propose to sell their lands piecemeal to small farmers. 
They would sell only in big tracts. 

That's where the Colony Farm Homes Association came in. 

I made up my mind there was going to be an immense demand for 
this land — especially in the fertile Washita and Red Deer Valleys, in 
Hemphill County, where the land is best adapted for diversified farming. 



110 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

I had no difficulty in interesting some St. Louis business men in this 
land. They said: 

"Let us buy a tract of this land while it is cheap and open it up to 
homeseekers." 

The Colony Farm Homes Association was formed, and a committee 
whs sent to investigate the situation in the Eastern Pan Handle, adjoining 
the rich lands of Oklahoma, now all sold and occupied. 

When the 25,000-acre tract at Mendota was offered us we fairly jumped 
at the chance. 

RIGHT ON THE RAILROAD. 

Here was a beautiful stretch of rolling land, abundantly watered, soil 
a rich chocolate loam, all readv for the plow, the land free from timber 
and brush, and ail of it WITHIN SIX MILES OF THE MAIN LINE 
OF A GREAT TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD. 

Do you wonder we grasped the opportunity? 

Now we are passing this opportunity on to you. 

The question is, will you take advantage of it? Will you take enough 
interest to go on one of the low-priced excursions to Mendota to see with 
your own eyes what kind of land you can buy now for from $8 to $18 
an acre? 

All of this land will be sold to farmers, and that quickly. 

I do not hesitate to say that every man who buys a farm in the Men- 
dota tract now and works it faithfully will be comfortably well off five 
years from now. 

He ought to be a rich man in ten years. 

It can be done, because it has been done and is being done right 
there in Hemphill County on land not as good as ours. 

IN THE HEART OF CIVILIZATION. 

Remember this is not a wilderness. The town of Canadian, about 11 
miles from the Mendota Colony Farms, has a population of 1,200. It has 
excellent churches, stores and schools. There is located at Canadian a 
college attended by children of farmers for many miles around. 

This town is only a few years old. We expect that Mendota, the new 
town on our property, will grow as fast as Canadian has grown. 

Every buyer of at least 80 acres of the Mendota Colony Farms land 
will have a special interest in the growth of Mendota, as he will be given 
a 50xl.50-foot town lot free. 

In all that I tell you about the Mendota Colony Farms I purposely 
UNDERSTATE rather than OVERSTATE the facts. 

The point is this: I want you to see the land, and to be agreeably 
surprised when you do see it. 

VISITORS ALWAYS SATISFIED. 

That's the way it has been with everybody I have taken down there, 
and the more the visitor knows about soils and practical farming, the more 
enthusiastic he becomes when he personally investigates the Mendota 
Colony Farms. 



REAL ESTATE ADVERTISING. Ill 

If you can't go yourself now, you'd better send some member of your 
family to look at this land and make a reservation for you. 

You can't tell- — this land may be all sold in a few months. One thing 
is certain, prices will go up; so it won't pay you to put this matter off. 

Go yourself, and get some of your neighbors to go with you. If you 
can't possibly go, you will be doing your friends a kindness to urge them 
to do so, at any rate. 

But if THEY go and get one of the Mendota Colony Farms and 
begin to prosper very quickly it won't help YOU any — YOU SHOULD 
GO, TOO, IF YOU POSSIBLY CAN. 

YOU CAN TRUST US. 

You can have perfect confidence in doing business with us. This 
Association is made up of straightforward, honest men, who will give 
you a square deal. 



A Beautiful Lot 



I am not going to tell you exactly on what street it is 
located (if you knew now, you would hurry to buy), [sin 
one of the most aristocratic sections of this grand old city and 
beautiful homes and very expensive homes are all around. 'Tis 
on one of the best known streets, where things are beautiful. 
Lot is 100 and over 200 feet to alley, and elevated about 4 
feet, and then level. Has pretty shade. Lot can be divided if 
you want 1-2 of it. Price reduced to $2,000. 

Now, let me say this : You can't beat this for price, loca- 
tion and beauty to save your life. Now, then! 

CARL H. FISCHER, 

Bell Phone 3860. 1114 Fourth National Bank Bldg. 

It may be a beautiful lot, but this is not a beautiful ad. There is too much 
mystery in it. The buyer is bound to see the property anyway, so why 
not tell him where it is and not waste your space and his time by- 
such a blind announcement as this? Exact information is what 
the real estate buyer wants. While you are trying to 
excite his curiosity somebody else may he 
selling him a definite piece of property. 



112 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

Moreover, it. will pay you to deal with us, because we employ very few 
agents, and by selling direct to you we cut out agents' commissions and 
give YOU the benefit of the saving, which amounts to a good deal — more 
than a hundred dollars in some cases. 

Our terms are easy, one-third of the total purchase price down, and 
balance in equal payments due in one, two, three and four years, with 6 
per cent, interest on deferred payments. 

You will be able to pay for your farm from the profits of the first 
two or three years — probably before the payments are due. 

DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS NOW. 

If you buy at least 160 acres we will refund your railroad fare to 
Mendota and return on your trip of investigation. 

If you want to go on one of the low-priced excursions to Mendota, 
either now or a little later, please fill out the coupon below, tear it out 
and mail it to me TO-DAY, so that I may know when to expect you. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Effective Business Letters. 

BUSINESS correspondence is really a part of advertising be- 
cause the object of most business letters, directly or indi- 
rectly, is to increase profits. 

It is no easy or simple thing to write letters that will make 
people do just as you want them to do. 

It is hard enough even in a personal interview to bend the will 
of another to your own in a business matter. 

To accomplish the same end by correspondence, there must be 
something in the letter to take the place of the enthusiasm, the ver- 
satility, the magnetism that are brought into play when there is 
personal contact between you and your "prospect." 

This matter of doing business by mail has become so important 
that whole books have been written on the subject and there are 
specialists who conduct courses of instruction in business corre- 
spondence. 

There is surely a field for work of that kind. It needs only a 
cursory reading of any average batch of correspondence — one morn- 
ing's mail, for instance — to convince one that the art of writing 
good business letters is a lost one, or rather that it has never been 
learned by most business men. 

The average business letter is a formal, lifeless ineffective piece 
of literature. It is courteous in a conventional sort of way, but it 
is not skilfully done and lacks the genuine human interest touch 
which it is possible to give even through the medium of paper and 
typewriter ink. 

Business letter writing is about where advertising as a whole 
was a generation ago. When the importance of this subject is more 
generally recognized as much attention will be paid to the improve- 
ment of business correspondence as is now devoted to the planning 
and writing of advertising matter proper. 

The development of the "mail order" business and the establish- 
ment of scientific follow up systems is making it absolutely essen- 
tial that as much thought and effort be expended in producing let- 
ters that pull, that close up business, as is given to the preparation 
of advertisements to get the initial inquiries. What folly it would 
be to get the names of a large number of possible customers, through 



114 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

your strong advertising matter and then fail to hold their interest, 
convince them and lead them to act by means of your correspond- 
ence with them. 

FOLLOWING UP PROSPECTS. 

Getting the inquiry is only the first step in making a customer 
of such a prospect. Whether or not you make the transformation 
complete depends largely upon the skill and tact with which you 
handle your inquirer in your dealings with him by letter. That 
is a self-evident truth. The "why" of it is apparent, but the "how" 
is not so easy. 

If the reading of this chapter convinces 3 r ou that there is room 
for improvement in your business letter writing, it will not have 
been written in vain. 

The first step toward improvement is to realize the necessity 
for it. 

If you feel that you are in a rut it is really an encouraging sign, 
because in that case the chances are that you will get out of it. 

Study and practice will make you a good letter writer and 
increase the results from your business correspondence by a good 
percentage. 

This is not theory, but a fact proved in the experience of 
thousands. 

A letter that comes to the point as soon as possible is best. 

The day of lengthy preambles in business letters is past. There 
may be no limit to the length of presidential messages, but few per- 
sons, aside from editors, are compelled to read them in full. 

Somebody patiently wades through the President's message, and 
arranges the meat of it in tabloid form for the convenience of busy 
readers. 

There is nobody to perform that service for the verbose business 
correspondent, so the wise writer summarizes his own business mes- 
sage. 

But while dispensing with preliminaries, it is not necessary or 
desirable to be blunt. Circumstances alter cases. Sometimes it 
might be the best way to announce your proposition "first crack out 
of the box," as the saying is, but as a rule it is better to start off 
with a paragraph, which, while not extraneous exactly, still does not 
at once explain your proposition, but rather leads up to it and pro- 
pares the mind of the reader to receive it. 



EFFECTIVE BUSINESS LETTERS. 115 

Make your paragraphs short because a short paragraph letter 
looks interesting and easy to read, while long paragraphs give the 
impression of heaviness. 

This applies particularly to a form letter because the recipient 
does not have to read it, and, nine times out of ten, if it does not 
look interesting he won't read it. 

So you may write with the wit of a Mark Twain or with the 
logic of a Daniel Webster and it will do you no good if your mes- 
sage is not attractive enough in appearance to get itself read. 

If it is an imitation typewritten letter let it be a perfect imi- 
tation. "Process" letters are so well made now-a-days that it is 
impossible for the average person, not an expert, to distinguish the 
imitation from the genuine, so that the moral effect may be the 
same and the recipient may feel just as if he were reading a letter 
dictated to him personally and the chances that he will act favorably 
upon your proposition are correspondingly greater. 

Besides clearness to the eye, clearness to the mind is an essen- 
tial thing in a business letter. 

DON'T HIDE YOUR LIGHT. 

The idea you have in your mind may be a brilliant one, but your 
light is hid under a bushel if you have not the happy faculty of con- 
veying your thoughts to others in correct and lucid English. 

It is a convenient excuse to lay the blame for faulty construc- 
tions, mis-spelled words and ambiguous expressions upon the ste- 
nographer and typewriter, and it is true that the stenographer, 
despite shining exceptions in individual cases, has a great deal to 
answer for in the way of murdered English. But, nevertheless, in 
very many cases, the responsibility for blunders and solecisms rests 
entirely with the person who dictates and signs the letters. 

You must be well grounded in the rules of syntax, and if you can 
study the derivation of words and the shades of meaning in syno- 
nyms, so much the better. 

CLEARNESS AND BREVITY. 

But, after all, the important thing is to be able to write clearly. 
convincingly and concisely in colloquial English. 

It is true that some persons have the gift of expression to a 
higher degree than others, but it is a question whether or not this 



116 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

is so much a gift or a talent as it is the result of study, reading 
and practice. 

One thing is certain, any business man can cultivate facility in 
this respect, and, moreover, while the study of good models, such 
as the letters reproduced in the latter part of this chapter, is an 
excellent thing, the fact remains that it is for every man to work 
out his own salvation by constant practice in his own business. 

As far as this matter can be summed up in a formula, it is this: 

Avoid conventionality and put human interest into your letters. 

For example, the modern business letter writer tabooes such 
worn-out formalities as these : 

Your esteemed favor of the 1.2th inst. is received. 

We acknowledge receipt. 

Replying to yours of recent date. 

We beg leave to say. 

In compliance with your request of the 28th ult. 

Your valued order. 

Trusting that this explanation will prove entirely satisfactory. 

And so on indefinitely. It is much better instead of "begging 
leave" to say just to say it and be done with it. 

While it is a very good thing to mention the date of a letter 
to which you are replying, it can be done incidentally and in a way 
that takes the formality out of the expression. For example, sup- 
pose a customer of your bank wrote you on the 10th instant asking 
if you had any good municipal bonds you could recommend to small 
investors. The common way in this case would be to start off the 
letter in reply to this inquiry like this : 

"Replying to your esteemed favor of the 10th inst., we beg leave to 
state that," etc. 

A better way would be: 

"New York City 3 per cent, bonds, a few of which we have for sale 
at 10-2, we believe would just suit the requirements you mention in your 
letter of the 10th inst. asking about good investments for a small amount." 

So far we have considered largely the mechanical features of 
letter writing — the externals, so to speak. 

But salesmanship on paper goes below the surface and between 
the lines. 

The content is more important than the form, but the wisest 
wav to do is to make both form and content as effective as possible. 



EFFECTIVE BUSINESS LETTERS. 117 

It takes only a little to turn the scale in your favor sometimes, 
so is it not sensible to make every business letter you write as strong 
in every way — both as to form and content — as can possibly be 
done ? 

In a follow up series each letter, as a rule, should contain a new 
proposition. 

Perhaps the best authority on this subject of business letter 
writing is Mr. Sherwin Cody of Chicago. Writing on this subject 
of salesmanship on paper in his excellent book, "How to Do Busi- 
ness by Letter," Mr. Cody says: 

"If you wish to write letters or advertisements that will get orders, it 
is necessary to do five things. 

"First, take the natural desire for the thing to be sold which you may 
expect the customer to have already, and try to fan up that natural desire 
into a very keen desire. 

"Always start from the customer's point of view, never by telling 
what you have to sell. 

"Second, show the customer just how the thing you have will help him 
to satisfy his desire. In other words, appeal to his common sense. 

"Third, do something to prove your statements, for the ordinary man 
thinks that most salesmen and advertisers are liars, and proof is necessary 
to give him confidence. 

"Fourth, write your letter in that energetic, enthusiastic, forceful, 
friendly style that will make the man feel like ordering. 

"Fifth,* tell him just exactly what you want him to do, as it were plac- 
ing an order blank under his hand, giving him a pen, and telling him to 
write his name there. 

"Many a soliciting letter fails because when the customer has read the 
letter through, he is somewhat confused in regard to what he is expected 
to do, and so he puts the matter off and forgets all about it." 

A FOLLOW UP PLAN. 

A simple plan for handling the mechanical end of a short follow 
up system for a bank is as follows : 

Have a card file set aside for the purpose and as each inquiry is 
received (either by mail or in person) put the name and address on a 
card. 

Arrange cards alphabetically. 

Send out the first form letter at the same time you send the booklet. 

The first form letter should likewise be enclosed in each copy of book- 
lets you give away to personal inquirers at the bank. 

At the top of the cards should be printed the thirty-one dates oi' the 
month and a movable tab or index should be used to indicate the date when 
the next letter is to be sent, the interval between the letters being about 
ten days. 



118 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

When an inquirer becomes a depositor, his card should at once be 
removed from the "prospect" file as it probably will not be necessary to 
send him further form letters, except such as go to all the depositors on 
the bank's books. 

The person having this matter in charge will look at the file every 
day and get the names of the persons to whom letters are to be sent 
that day. The tab should be moved ahead ten days at the time the name 
is copied for addressing, and "first letter," "second letter," etc., should 
also be indicated on the card. 

This is important, because confusion will result if it is not done. 

It is likewise very important to get the names and addresses of per- 
sons asking for advertising matter personally at the bank, because if that 
is not done they cannot be followed up. 

The idea is to make the plan as simple and effective as possible, but 
it will need careful attention to get the best results. 

Everybody connected with the bank should have his attention called 
to the advertising and be able to give inquirers the desired information, 
or direct them where to get it. 

SOME MODEL LETTERS. 

Good points can be obtained from a study of the following ex- 
tracts from effective business-soliciting letters of some prominent 
banks, trust companies and investment houses: 

There is a point about our 3 per cent. Certificates of Deposit which, 
perhaps, we have not yet made entirely clear to you. 

If you make a deposit in The National Bank of Commerce in St. Louis, 
we are absolutely responsible to you for your money until it is withdrawn 
by you or upon your authority. 

In other words, if you lose a Certificate of Deposit, and, at the end of 
the interest period, it is presented to us and we pay the money to a 
wrongful holder, we are the losers, not you. 

A Certificate of Deposit, as you will see from the enclosed specimen, 
is just a receipt for your deposit, but it is a negotiable receipt. 

The Certificate cannot be checked against, it is true, but that is 
really an advantage. 

When you deposit money in this way, your main object is to build up 
a reserve safely. 

You probably realize that one-third of all failures in business are 
due to lack of capital, and that most of those, who in old age must depend 
upon the generosity of others, are dependent because they neglected to 
save money when they could. 

Now, with this Certificate of Deposit for your savings, not subject 
to check, the temptation to withdraw money from the bank on a slight 
pretext is not so great and your capital is growing steadily both by inter- 
est and by new deposits. 

Get a Certificate of Deposit in this strong bank now. You will be 
taking a very wise step. You do not need to wait until you have a large 
sum — $50.00 is enough. 



EFFECTIVE BUSINESS LETTERS. 119 

And remember that your money deposited here is absolutely safe and 
profitably employed. 

We feel confident that any business transactions you may have with 
us will prove mutually profitable and satisfactory. 

We receive deposits subject to check at sight as in any bank, and 
liberal interest will be paid on daily balances. Interest-bearing certificates 
of deposit issued, payable on demand or at a specified time. 

We are also thoroughly equipped to transact all kinds of Trust busi- 
ness, to act as Executor, Administrator, Guardian, etc., Trustee of bond 
issues, as well as Transfer Agent and Registrar of Stock. 

Accounts may be opened either in person or by mail, and inquiries 
are invited and will be promptly answered. If you cannot call to open an 
account, we will send a representative to see you. 



In these times of financial disturbance you would doubtless like to 
know what, if any, effect the present flurry is having on the affairs of 
this company. 

The bulk of our assets is secured on real estate in this city and 
vicinity. Inasmuch as there has been no inflation of prices of such prop- 
erty there is no shrinkage now. All of our loans are well secured and 
payments are being made promptly. 

Investments in our bonds and mortgages have increased, thus indi- 
cating the desire of people to put their money into safe securities rather 
than leaving it on deposit in banks or investing it in stocks or other 
speculative enterprises. 

In view of Lhe existing conditions general throughout the country, 
we can understand that you might feel uneasy for the safety of an invest- 
ment. Our secured certificates are secured by first-class mortgages set 
aside in our vaults for that purpose. We will, however, be glad to send 
you a specific bond and mortgage which will be placed in your name on 
the county records. In that way you will be safely secured no matter 
what may happen to any bank or trust company in the country. You will 
get the same rate of interest and you will have the certificate of this com- 
pany in addition to the mortgage security. You can easily investigate as 
to the safety of the securities by writing to the County Recorder or any 
bank or business house. A fire insurance policy accompanies the papers, 
providing that in case of fire the insurance company will pay the mortgage. 

Trusting that we may have the pleasure of opening an account with 
you in the near future, we remain — 



We take pleasure in sending you under a separate cover a booklet of 
information relative to Pittsburgh and this institution, from which it eau 
be readily seen that our Large capital and surplus, combined with the high 
standing of the board of directors, offers unquestioned security to our 
depositors. 

We inform you that this Company accepts savings accounts by mail 
on exactly the same terms as though made in person at our office. Direc- 



120 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

tions for opening such accounts will be found in the booklet. We enclose 
herewith a copy of our semi-annual statement, and a signature card, which 
should be filled in and sent with your first deposit. 

An account may be opened with any sum from $1.00 up, and will bear 
interest at the rate of four (4%) per cent., compounded semi-annually 
(January 1 and July 1). 

Any further information which you may desire, on this or any other 
subject bearing on banking or trust matters, will be cheerfully given. 

We assure you of courteous and careful attention, and hope that we 
may have the pleasure of opening an account with you. 



In reply to your inquiry, we are mailing under separate cover a copy 
of our booklet on banking by mail and enclose herewith a copy of our last 
financial statement. 

In addition to the regular savings accounts paying 4 per cent., we pay 
interest at the same rnte on certificates of deposit of $500.00 or over run- 
ning six months or longer not subject to payment until maturity. On 
special deposits of $500.00 or over, for six months or longer, subject to 
check, we pay interest at the rate of 3 1-2 per cent, per annum. If 
checked upon before the expiration of the six months' period, the interest 
is reduced to 3 per cent. 

We enclose a signature card which you will kindly fill out and return 
with your opening deposit if you should decide to open an account with us. 

We shall be pleased to give you any further information desired, and, 
hoping that we may hear further from you, we remain — 



We have on previous occasions written you concerning the financial 
strength of this bank as represented by our capital and surplus of $6,500,- 
000.00 and our total resources of over $42,000,000.00; and we now wish to 
direct your attention to the management, which is vested in the Board of 
Directors and Executive Committee, consisting of the following well- 
known and representative business men in this community: 

This strong management gives The Citizens Savings and Trust Com- 
pany a distinctive place among the large savings banks in the country 
affording every assurance of absolute safety and we trust that you may 
decide to favor us with your deposit at an early date. 



Perhaps you are yet undecided as to whether you should open a sav- 
ings account with this bank. We know from our experience with banking- 
by-mail customers that, if you give this method of conducting your sav- 
ings account a trial, you will be much pleased. 

On the 25th day of May, 1907, the bank will be fifty years old. This 
test of time alone, we feel, entitles the bank to a great degree of confidence. 
However, we refer with special pride to our board of directors and the man- 
agement. Enclosed herewith is a list of our directors with some comments 



EFFECTIVE BUSINESS LETTERS. 121 

regarding each. It will give you an idea of the character of the men who 
direct the affairs of the bank. 

We again enclose to you an addressed envelope, form of deposit, and 
blank for your signature. We hoj)e to have you make a start with us. 



There is an old adage which says "The proof of the pudding is the 
eating thereof." 

We have given you all of our evidence and it is now up to you as the 
jury to decide whether or not you will find the verdict in our favor. 

As an additional proof, we beg to enclose you a few letters from some 
of the people who have been eating the pudding. 



If you will fill out the enclosed postal we will send you regularly, 
free of cost, our popular monthly magazine, "MONEY TALKS." 

"MONEY TALKS" is a bright, pocket-size publication that aims to 
be both entertaining and instructive. It will not bore you with dull finan- 
cial problems, neither will it disturb you with frivolity. It strikes the 
happy medium and is always interesting. 

"MONEY TALKS" will celebrate its first birthday next month. There 
will be no relaxation in our efforts. Many improvements will be made. 
Literary and artistic features have been planned which will make the maga- 
zine more attractive than ever. 

Incidentally permit us to call your attention to a few of the advan- 
tages of a savings account. With "Money In the Bank" you are more 
independent and less worried. You are making adequate provision for 
sickness and old age. Your funds are safe and in no danger of being 
destroyed or stolen. You are drawing liberal interest (we pay 3 per cent., 
compounded every six months). You are accumulating capital, without 
which no business venture can be successfully consummated. 

We believe that you expect to start an account some day. But are you 
sure that your prospects will ever be any brighter than they are now? Why 
not start right away? No income is too small to save something out of it. 
No income is so large that a certain per cent, of it should not be regularly 
laid aside. 

Your deposit with us will be absolutely safe. We have a capital and 
surplus of ten million dollars. Our directors are recognized as among the 
most successful and trustworthy business men in St. Louis. 

If you prefer a checking account we would welcome it, give you good 
service and pay you 2 per cent, interest. 



Many people are holding off from banking by mail from natural fear 
of what to them is an untried proposition. 

We don't want you to deposit money with us if you have the slightest 
misgivings as to the perfect safety of it, for we believe wo can reassure 
you on every point. 

We have told you pretty much all about the strength of The Cleveland 
Trust Company — its large capital and surplus, conservative management, 
its immense resources — but possibly there is something about which you 



in PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

would like more information. If so, won't you let us hear from you? We 
want your account because we know it will work to our mutual advantage 
the same as it is doing in the case of the 70,000 people who are already 
depositing money here at 4 per cent, interest. 

This Company issues a Certificate of Deposit, yielding six per cent., 
and to secure same turns over to the holder a mortgage, secured on real 
estate worth more than double the amount. Thus the investor has the 
double security of our $300,000.00 cash capital and surplus, and also the 
specific mortgage. 

The value of the property covered by the mortgage can easily be ascer- 
tained, independently of us, by writing to any bank official or business 

agency. .,•-.. +. 

" These certificates meet the wants of people who desire a time invest- 
ment as they run from one to five years, and in amounts from $500 up. 
Any bank anywhere will advance money on them. A simple endorsement 
transfers them, thus avoiding publicity. ...,..; - 

The mortgao-e is, if desired, assigned on the record to the holder ot 
the certificate,* 5 so that he becomes entirely independent of the success or 
failure of this or any bank in the world. Meantime this Company, as a 
faithful clerk, attends to all details, and all the investor need do is to cut 
off a coupon once each six months, and receive the amount in gold com or 
New York exchange. ... xl i • *. 

We will take pleasure in answering further inquiries on the subject, 

and in submitting sample forms upon request. 

Enclosed please find check for the amount of your share of the regular 
January quarterly dividend of 2 per cent., and the extra dividend of 1 
per cent., iust declared by the directors of our company. 

We paid 9 per cent. 'in dividends last year, and start the nrst quarter 
of 1907 with 3 per cent. more. 

I do not need to tell you that our company is prosperous, lour divi- 
dend checks have made you fully aware of that. _ • 

But, as partners in this business, there are details you will be pleased 

to know. , . .. . T , 

You will be gratified to learn that since the incorporation in Jim, 
1905, in addition to paying regular 2 per cent, quarterly dividends and two 
extra dividends of 1 per cent., the company has earned a surplus ol 
$188 290 23. 

This is shown by the certified statement taken from the books. October 
1st 190G, by George W. Young, an authorized public accountant. 

But since then the business has been better than ever. We never had 
a bigo-er month's business than that of October last. 

In view of the large earnings and substantial surplus, the directors 
have decided that after February 1st, 1907, the price of any treasury stock 
of the company offered for sale should be $110 a share instead of MOO. 

So, if vou ha*e been a stockholder in this company for the past year, 
you have had a 19 per cent, investment, because your stock has earned 9 
per cent, in dividends and now has gone 10 per cent, above par. 



EFFECTIVE BUSINESS LETTERS. 123 

I do not believe that our stock will stop at 110. I expect to see it go 
to 120, or higher, because dividends are likely to be still greater than 
they have been. 

And for that reason, even at the higher price, this stock will continue 
to be a splendid investment. 

You have helped to make this business the wonderful success it is. 
The officers and directors appreciate your aid, and, naturally, it is their 
desire to favor the present stockholders whenever possible. 

Therefore, they have reserved the last 200 shares of the block of treas- 
ury stock issued November 21st last, to be sold at $100 a share to present 
stockholders only. 

These are positively the last shares of treasury stock to be sold at 
par, and it will be a case of first come, first served. 

After February 1st, the price to everybody will be $110 a share. 

Perhaps you wonder why the company sells any of its treasury stock at 
all when it has such a satisfactory surplus. 

Here is the reason: 

The bulk of this surplus is in the form of real estate and accounts 
receivable from real estate sold on the installment plan. This is perfectly 
good, but not all immediately available. 

AVe sell stock to get cash to acquire more New York City land to sell 
now, before it gets too high in price. For the more of that we get now, 
the greater will be our future dividends. 

In this special sale of stock you have the usual privilege of buying on 
the installment plan of 10 per cent, of the amount down and 10 per cent, 
a month. 

But remember this is a very limited offer, both as to time and amount. 
If you take advantage of it you cannot delay. 

If you wish, telegraph us to reserve from one to ten shares for you. 

If the stock is all sold, when your order and first payment are received, 
your money will be returned promptly. 

You should not hesitate a minute on this proposition if you have any 
monev available for investment. 



Investment banking, as compared with commercial banking, has held 
the attention of our business community for some time. 

A commercial bank's business is based mainly upon one, two, three or 
four months' notes, which are constantly being made and as constantly 
paid, because the needs of the makers are continually changing- with the 
production and consumption of commodities. 

To use commercial funds for investment purposes, constitutes invest- 
ment banking, curtails legitimate business enterprises to tin- same extent, 
promotes speculation, and, if not checked, threatens the very founadtion of 
our economic and trade system. The hasis of its business is fixed, and its 
loans upon collateral are likely to remain the same for an indefinite period. 

The discounts of a well regulated commercial hank vary with the pro- 
ductive interests of the country, and are changing from day to day; ma- 
turing notes of one branch of industry are used to meet tin needs of 
another. Its assets are quick assets and are in Liquid form. 



124 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

The Penn National Bank is strictly a commercial hank, is under 
Government supervision, Clearing House protection and oversight, and 
maintains a proper and sufficient cash reserve. It is independent of the 
control of any single interest and is able to meet the reasonable needs of 
its patrons at all times. 

We invite your attention to the enclosed statement and offer you all 
the facilities and advantages of a commercial bank, developed and per- 
fected by eighty years of successful service. 

Your personal account, large or small, should have the same protec- 
tion as your business account. 



At this time, when so many mining stock and other glowing "invest- 
ment" propositions are being exploited, we know that you will turn with 
satisfaction to the consideration of such a safe, conservative and profitable 
investment as that presented by the Central Lumber Company of Phila- 
delphia. 

The enclosed circular tells you about an opportunity to become inter- 
ested on a profit sharing basis in an established, successful, dividend-paying 
lumber business. 

Read every word of the circular and notice that each statement we 
make is backed up by facts and figures. 

The lumber industry is one of the greatest in the world. Lumber is a 
necessity and its manufacture is one of the great natural opportunities for 
certain profit. 

The Central Lumber Company is unusually successful. 

During the past year the net profits of the company were more than 
$20,000. 

Part of these profits went into the 2 per cent, quarterly dividends; 
part was turned back into the business. 

This year the earnings will be greater on account of the development 
of cur new tract in Pennsylvania, upon which two mills are already in 
operation. 

It isn't very often that you have the chance to become a stockholder in 
a concern actually paying such generous dividends as we are. 

The reason you have this opportunity is because the directors of the 
company prefer to have the new stock subscribed by small investors rather 
than to sell an interest to a single large investor. 

The stock issue is limited, and so your opportunity Is, too. 

You will be wise to send your application and first payment to-day. 



Nov/ that you have read "The Law of Financial Success," I presume 
you are ready to make use of the principles explained therein, and to apply 
Ihem in a very practical manner for the enlargement of your purse and 
the improvement of your bank account. 

You must realize that "it takes money to make money," and that the 
man who works with his hands and brain alone for wages or a salary will 
be a long time becoming financially independent. He must make the money 
he earns work for him if he wishes to acquire a competency. What we all 
desire is to lay aside money enough for "the day of opportunity" as well 
as a "rainy day." 



EFFECTIVE BUSINESS LETTERS. 125 

Many good people have learned to apply the "knowing" part of the 
law extremely well, but fail when it comes to the "doing" part. This 
might happen to anyone, because few people have the time or energy to 
attend to their regular duties, and also that of investing their surplus 
money properly. 

The mission of this company is to help people to ap'ply the "doing" 
part of the Law, and to show them how to invest the money they possess 
where it will bring the largest possible returns. Our method protects the 
investor absolutely, and makes his investment as safe and as sound as any 
investment possibly could be. 



You will note by enclosed slip that we make a specialty of investments. 
We are prepared to offer municipal, railroad and corporation bonds of 
various kinds, yielding an income of from 3 1-4 to 6 1-2 per cent. Enclosed 
lists of bonds contain the securities that we have on hand at the present 
time. The large sheet describes some issues to which we have given special 
study and which seem particularly suited for personal and trust invest- 
ments; the Short Term Investments on the other sheet need no further 
description. 

Our facilities for investigation are at your service, and if you will 
indicate the general character and net return you desire, it will give us 
pleasure to make further offerings. The prices of all securities are lower 
than normal and the present seems an unusual opportunity to secure safe 
and attractive investments yielding a good income and likely to appreciate 
in market price. 

For investments of sums of less than $1,000 we will gladly suggest 
stocks of undoubted worth returning full rates of interest. 

When in Boston we shall be glad to have you call at the office. 



In answer to your valued inquiry, we recently sent you information 
regarding our 6 per cent. Gold Bonds and our extensive real estate holdings 
in^New York City. Not having heard from you further, we are sending 
you another pamphlet entitled "Some Questions Answered." This will 
doubtless make clearer to you the nature of our business, to which are 
directly due the exceptional advantages of our Bonds to investors and 
which no other business can equally assure. These advantages may be 
briefly summarized as: 

1. LIBERAL RETURN. The 6 per cent, interest is guaranteed, and 
is not merely a possibility. We have earned and paid this rate for more 
than eighteen vears. 

2. ABSOLUTE SAFETY. Bondholders are protected by our entire 
assets, including capital and surplus. At the maturity of the Bonds they 
receive in full the money invested, the principal being guaranteed as well as 
the interest, or the Bonds may be surrendered for cash after two years, in 
accordance with their terms. 

We also enclose to you herewith a copy of our Eighteenth Annual 
Statement, in the belief that from your interest in this Company and its 
plan of investment, you will be glad to read the story these figures tell of 
continuing progress in its business. This showing of over $8,300,000 of 



126 PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

assets, with capital and surplus of over $1,285,000, presents the evidence 
of its stability and constitutes an argument for the wisdom of its policy 
and soundness of its plan of investment more convincing than words. 

A guaranteed 6 per cent, investment is not easily obtained in these 
times of lowering interest rates. How and why our Bonds constitute such 
an investment is explained by the leaflet enclosed. Assuming from your 
inquiry that you are in the market for an investment, we trust that our 
Bonds may meet with your favorable consideration. In any case, we will 
appreciate a reply to this letter. 



The foregoing letters clearly illustrate the modern method of business 
correspondence for financial and investment institutions. While not per- 
fect models in every case, they are suggestive and ought to be helpful to 
every reader who is an earnest student of this subject. The idea in this 
chapter, as in all the preceding ones, has been to provide food for thought 
and to help the reader to help himself. This is in conformity with the 
latest thought in educational circles and the practice in business life, where 
learning by doing is the approved method. 

Used in this way, this volume ought to be a practical aid to you in 
PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 



PUBLICATIONS FOR 
BANKERS. 



^HE BANKERS PUBLISHING COMPANY is head 
quarters for all books on banking, investment and 
business topics and will procure and forward at the regular 
price any book not mentioned in the following list : 

PRACTICAL BANKING. 

By Claudius B. Patten, late Cashier of the State National Bank of Boston. An octavo 
volume of 520 pages, cloth sides and buckram hack 85.00 

A book of great value to every one engaged in the banking business or in any way in- 
terested in banks. Shows exactly how banks are conducted. Gives forms and clear instruc- 
tions. The complete title, "Methods and Machinery of Practical Banking,' - indicates the 
scope of the book. 

MODERN BANKING METHODS. 

By A. P. Barrett, C.P.A., formerly bank expert for United States Treasury Department 
and bank examiner S4.00 

This book contains the latest and best information in regard to the organization and 
management of banks; 325 large octavo pages; over 200 improved fac-simile forms of bank 
books, records and blanks filled out to represent actual transactions, practical bank book- 
keeping—the work of every department fully explained and illustrated. 

THE BANKERS HANDY SERIES. 

I.— BANK DIRECTORS, THEIR POWERS, DUTIES AND LIABILITIES. 

By John J. Crawford, Author of the Uniform Negotiable Instruments Act. 
"I do not know of the matter being so conveniently offered in any other 
form." — Hon. Geo. E. Roberts, Pres. Commercial National Bank, Chicago. 

II.-HOW TO INCREASE THE BUSINESS OF A TRUST COMPANY. By 

Clay Herrick, of the Cleveland Trust Co. 

"His suggestions, if carefully followed, mean more business. He evi- 
dently speaks from experience." — A prominent trust company officer. 

III. — CREDIT CURRENCY. By E1iuit II. Youngman, Editor of The Bankers Magazine. 
"You have done your countrymen a great service by writing this book." — 
Hon. Chas. N. Fowler, Chairman Committee on Banking and Currency. 
House of Representatives. 

Handsomely printed and bound in boards, 50 cents each. 



PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

By T. D. MacGregor. A practical handbook on bank, trust company, bond, stock and real 
estate advertising by an expert. How to prepare booklets, prospectuses, letters, circulars 
street-car cards, newspaper and magazine advertisements that will "pull." Valuable lists of 
talking points, a glossary of advertising terms, illustrations of good and poor advertising, 
methods of conducting an advertising department, and details of compaign plans and approved 
methods for follow-up systems. In short, a summary of the best plans and ideas in financial 
publicity. 128 pages, illustrated, cloth bound 91.00 

THE BANKERS DIRECTORY. 

Revised to date, and issued twice a year. Per volume * 1.00 

Contains lists of Banks and Bankers in the United States, Commercial and Banking 
Laws of each State, a list of reliable Bank Attorneys, towns having no Banks, with 
nearest Banking Points, Directors of National and State Banks in all the Principal Cities, 
list of Canadian Banks and Bankers, State and Territorial Maps, and many other features 
contained in no other work. Substantially bound in red cloth. Over 1500 pages, octavo. 
Marginal index. ($7.00 a year.) 

THE BANKERS MAGAZINE. 

In almost every field of activity there is one publication 
that stands pre-eminent in quality, influence and authoritative 
character editorially. 

In the banking and financial field that publication is The 
Bankers Magazine, the oldest and best banking and financial 
publication. Its departments include the following : 

EDITORIAL, COMMENT. 

Full and unbiased treatment of monetary and banking topics of general interest to the 
banker and financial student. 
CONTRIBUTIONS 

By leading bankers and others dealing with matters directly or collaterally related to 
banking. 
BANKING AND COMMERCIAL LAW. 

The latest decisions of State and Federal courts; replies to law and banking questions, 
submitted by subscribers, by John J. Crawford, author of the Uniform Negotiable Instru- 
ments Act. 
PRACTICAL BANKING. 

Articles on all departments of bank work, contributed by active bank men ; illustrated 
with forms. 
TRUST COMPANIES AND SAVINGS BANKS. 

Special departments devoted to the interests of these institutions. 
BANKING PUBLICITY. 

A department giving the latest and best ideas for promoting business by advertising. 

Many other features are regularly and specially embraced in the contents of Tin 
Bankers Magazine, making the publication of direct practical helpfulness to every banker, 
officer or clerk in a bank, trust company or savings institution, as well as to investors and 
capitalists generally. 

Published monthly; subscription, $5 a year. Special inducements to new subscribers. 

THE BANKERS PUBLISHING CO. 

90 William Street. New York. 



APR 16 1308 



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